Peter Kirby's practice covers the spectrum of cross-border disputes, trade and regulatory compliance issues, including trade agreements, trade remedies such as anti-dumping and countervailing duty actions, international commercial arbitration and investor-state arbitration, customs law and export and import controls. He represents clients before various governmental and administrative agencies and the Federal Court and is frequently involved in appellate litigation of trade and customs issues.
Peter has acted for and advised corporations, state enterprises and federal and provincial government departments and agencies on a wide range of NAFTA and WTO matters. He has acted as counsel in several investor-state arbitrations under Chapter Eleven of NAFTA and under Bilateral Investment Treaties and has advised clients in both the public and private sector on investor-state disputes. Over the last twenty years he has acted as counsel in over forty anti-dumping and countervailing duty investigations, from his first case involving Charcoal Briquettes from the U.S. in 1986 to the Corn inquiry in 2006.
As part of his regulatory practice, Peter has developed considerable expertise in Food Law, advising food companies and industry associations on a variety of issues of regulatory compliance including novel food approvals and product recalls.
He is a frequent speaker in Canada and abroad on international trade issues. In 2002, he was invited by the Beijing Judicial Council to lead a seminar for Chinese judges on WTO implementation rules. In 2003 he was invited by the Inter-Parliamentary Forum of the Americas to lead a seminar in Panama for members of Parliament from the Americas on the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas. He has also been an invited speaker on international law topics at numerous meetings of the American Bar Association.
Peter has been named Montréal’s International Trade and Finance Law Lawyer of the Year by Best Lawyers 2013.
Honours and Awards
- Recognized as one of Canada's 500 leading lawyers by Lexpert and The American Lawyer
- Ranked by Benchmark Litigation as a national litigation star in international arbitration
- Recognized as one of Canada's best International Trade and Finance Law lawyers by The Best Lawyers in Canada (2006-2013 editions)
- Recognized as one of Canada's best lawyers in his field of expertise by Lexpert
- Recognized as one of Canada's best lawyers in his field of expertise by Chambers Global
- Recognized as one of Canada's best lawyers in his field of expertise by The Worlds Leading Lawyers
- Recognized as one of Canada's best lawyers in his field of expertise by Euromoney Group
- Recognized as one of Canada's best lawyers in his field of expertise by Guide to the Worlds Leading Trade Lawyers
Membership/Affiliations
- Vice-Chairman, Canada Committee, Section of International Law, American Bar Association
- Vice-Chairman, International Trade Committee, Section of International Law, American Bar Association (2004-2006)
- Member, Appeals Advisory Committee of the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency
- Member, Editorial Board, North American Corporate Lawyer (2000-2003)
- Member, Auditor General's Advisory Committee on the Special Examination of the Canadian Dairy Commission (1999-2000)
- Chairman, Canadian Importers Association, Québec Chapter (1998 to 2000)
- Member, Canadian Importers Association, National Board of Directors (1998-2000)
- Member, Canadian Bar Association
- Member, Canadian Bar Association, Sales and Commodity Tax Committee
- Member, American Bar Association
- Member, American Bar Association, International Law Section
- Member, New York Bar Association
- Member, New York Bar Association, International Law Section
- Member, Canadian Importers Association
- President, Ireland-Canada Chamber of Commerce (1990-1993)
- Member, The Canadian International Trade Tribunal, Bench and Bar Committee (1995-1999)
- Member, Auditor General's Advisory Committee on Government Procurement (1995-1996)