Calvin Zhang

Calvin’s litigation career began as a summer student at Starkman Barristers under Paul H. Starkman, who had then already practised civil and commercial litigation for over twenty years across Torkin Manes LLP, Osler Hoskin & Harcourt LLP, and Stevensons LLP before founding the firm. From day one Calvin sat in on examinations for discovery, drafted motion records, and helped prepare facta in contested commercial files. Paul did not let him observe — he made him work.

That apprenticeship continued through articling and into Calvin’s early years at the bar after his 2020 call. He learned the firm’s discipline at the workbench: how to frame the issues a Superior Court judge actually cares about, how to put together an evidentiary record that survives cross-examination, how to write a factum tight enough to win at the appellate level.

Today Calvin runs his own files independently — from commencement (drafting the Statement of Claim) through discovery (preparing and conducting the examinations), motions (arguing security-for-costs, summary judgment, Mareva injunctions, lien discharges), trial (cross-examining experts, leading evidence, delivering closing argument), and appeal (writing the factum, standing before the panel at the Ontario Court of Appeal or the Divisional Court). The work product is his.

Paul remains the firm’s senior counsel and a sounding board on strategic and complex matters — but the lawyer who runs the contested motion in front of the Master, the trial in front of Justice Trimble, or the appeal before three judges of the ONCA in 2024–2026 is, in each instance, Calvin himself.

Hands-on, not delegated. Calvin drafts the pleadings, prepares the affidavits, conducts the cross-examinations, and argues the motions and appeals himself. There is no associate handoff: the lawyer the client briefs at the kitchen table is the lawyer who stands at the podium.

Range, not narrow specialism. Calvin’s docket in 2024–2026 ranged from a $50,441 landlord-tenant summary judgment (Ardabili v. Zak) to a $1,571,971 CIETAC cross-border arbitral-award enforcement (China Yantai v. Novalex). He has argued construction trials, ONCA appeals, Mareva injunctions, security-for-costs motions, and judicial review-adjacent matters in the same calendar year. This breadth is deliberate: a litigator who only sees one type of case develops blind spots that hurt clients in the next case.

Bilingual at every stage. Calvin is fluent in English, Mandarin, and Cantonese, with additional capability in French, Italian, and Russian. For Chinese-speaking clients in cross-border or domestic disputes, this means client interviews, document review, and witness preparation happen directly without translation intermediaries — a meaningful efficiency and accuracy advantage that translates into fewer surprises at trial.

Commercial perspective grounded in formal training. Before law school Calvin completed a B.Com (Honours) at Rotman Commerce in finance and economics and an M.A. in Economics at the University of Toronto, where he taught as a Teaching Assistant in both the Department of Economics and the Department of Statistics. He reads financial records, models damages, and engages with valuation issues without needing to outsource to an expert at every step.

Calvin is proficient in English, Mandarin, Cantonese, French, Italian, and Russian, enabling him to advise and represent clients across linguistic and cultural boundaries without reliance on intermediaries. This capability is particularly valuable in cross-border disputes, international trade matters, and cases involving Chinese-speaking clients navigating the Ontario legal system. For clients in China Yantai v. Novalex-style CIETAC enforcement matters, he reads the underlying Mandarin-language arbitral award and supporting record without translation; for Cantonese-speaking small-claims clients, he conducts the entire intake meeting in their first language.

Calvin Zhang is a member of the Law Society of Ontario (LSO #80407L) and was called to the Bar of Ontario in 2020. He is also a member of the Ontario Bar Association (OBA). His reported decisions are independently searchable on CanLII.