Website: mccarthy.ca
Head office address (Canada): 66 Wellington Street West, Suite 5300, TD Bank Tower, Toronto, ON M5K 1E6
Year established: 1990
Ownership structure: Canadian, privately held limited liability partnership
Target market/client profile: plan sponsors, pension funds, financial institutions, governments, and multinational corporations seeking legal advice across business law, tax, litigation, labour and employment, and real property
Number of professional staff: over 800 lawyers
Canadian office locations: Toronto (head office), Montréal, Vancouver, Calgary, Québec City
McCarthy Tétrault LLP is a national law firm with offices across Canada, New York, and London. The firm works with domestic and international clients on complex legal and business matters across multiple practice areas. It became Canada's first national law firm in 1990 through the merger of four regional firms.
The firm's story starts in 1855, when lawyers D'Arcy Boulton and D'Alton McCarthy Sr. set up a practice in Barrie, Ontario. That small operation focused on property and commercial work in what was then Upper Canada. Two decades later, D'Alton McCarthy Jr. opened a Toronto office to tap into the city's growing corporate sector.
The Toronto office grew steadily through the late 1800s under a series of name changes and new partners. By 1916, the firm split into two separate practices. One branch became McCarthy & McCarthy, a Toronto-based corporate firm that built its name through the first half of the 20th century.
In 1990, McCarthy & McCarthy joined three other regional firms to form McCarthy Tétrault. Those firms were:
The Law Society of Alberta initially blocked the merger by restricting multi-province partnerships. The firm challenged those rules under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms in Black v. Law Society of Alberta.
The Supreme Court of Canada struck the restrictions down in 1989. That ruling cleared the path for the 1990 merger that created McCarthy Tétrault as Canada's first national law firm.
Since then, the firm has added new service lines to meet shifting client needs. It launched Inclusion Now in 2019, a firm-wide strategy led by a dedicated chief inclusion officer.
MT>Divisions followed as a group of business units covering areas like:
In October 2025, McCarthy Tétrault held its 15th annual pensions and benefits seminar. Partners and associates used that forum to outline key structural changes affecting pension plans throughout Canada.
McCarthy Tétrault advises clients across legal and business matters through dedicated practice groups and industry teams:
The pensions, benefits, and executive compensation group covers the full range of pension fund legal work, from plan design and governance to complex litigation. The firm also acts for some of Canada's largest public and private pension plans, employers, sponsors, and administrators.
Sunil Kapur serves as CEO of McCarthy Tétrault and is a partner in the firm's labour and employment group in Toronto. He previously served as a part-time member of the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal. Kapur holds a BSc from the University of Toronto and an LLB from Osgoode Hall Law School.
Other members of McCarthy Tétrault's leadership team include:
Sarit E. Batner chairs the board of partners, which oversees firm strategy, governance, and partnership decisions. McCarthy Tétrault also maintains dedicated services leadership across finance, technology, human resources, and client operations.
McCarthy Tétrault works with a broad range of clients, from mid-size businesses to large multinationals, across both the public and private sectors. The firm's pension and benefits group specifically acts for:
That group also advises on multi-employer pension plans, target benefit conversions, and cross-border mandates.
The firm serves clients across every major Canadian market through its five domestic offices. Its labour and employment practice covers federally and provincially regulated employers across industries including financial services, health care, manufacturing, and transportation.
McCarthy Tétrault also handles cross-border work through its New York and London offices. Those offices support clients with North American and international operations who need both Canadian and foreign legal counsel on the same matter.
McCarthy Tétrault appears in major legal rankings and employer award programs. The firm has also stayed active in community and industry initiatives over the years.
McCarthy Tétrault's Susan Nickerson was named to our 2025 Elite Women list. The list recognizes women leaders across the benefits, pensions, and institutional investment space. Nickerson's inclusion reflects the firm's depth in pension legal work.
McCarthy Tétrault launched Inclusion Now in 2019 as a firm-wide strategy. The program focuses on recruiting and advancing members of:
In March 2025, former partner Deron Waldock spoke to BPM on DB surplus strategies for plan sponsors dealing with trapped defined benefit surpluses. Waldock, who has since joined another firm, also presented at a Canadian Pension and Benefits Institute webinar on the same topic.
Find McCarthy Tétrault's full listing in our legal directory, which includes contact details for the firm's pensions and benefits practice.
