James Plotkin is a bilingual litigation and disputes lawyer in Gowling WLG’s Ottawa office, practising in the Advocacy and Intellectual Property groups. His practice focuses on commercial litigation and arbitration (international and domestic), intellectual property litigation and administrative law.

Mr. Plotkin has argued before the Supreme Court of Canada, the Federal Court of Appeal and the Federal Court, as well as all levels of court in Ontario. He also regularly acts in international and domestic arbitrations. He is certified as a Qualified Arbitrator (Q.Arb) by the ADR Institute of Canada.

In addition to his litigation and arbitration practice, Mr. Plotkin is involved in domain name dispute resolution, both as counsel and adjudicator. He is on the rosters of the Canadian International Internet Dispute Resolution Centre (CIIDRC) and Resolution Canada. Mr. Plotkin is also available to arbitrate commercial and intellectual property-related disputes.

Mr. Plotkin has been published broadly on international and domestic commercial arbitration, copyright, trademarks and domain name disputes. He has contributed commentary on copyright and related issues on television, radio, podcasts and various national and regional English and French print media. Additionally, he co-authored a commentary on British Columbia’s international arbitration legislation and is co-authoring the next edition of Ontario’s arbitration legislation commentary.

Mr. Plotkin has acted as counsel in various domestic and international commercial arbitrations and arbitration-related court proceedings (arbitrator appointment, award enforcement, appeals, applications to set aside etc.). He has adjudicated several domain name disputes as a sole panelist and as a member of tripartite panels.

• Qualified Arbitrator (Q.Arb) – ADR Institute of Canada
• Editor-in-Chief – Canadian Intellectual Property Review
• Young Canadian Arbitration Practitioners (YCAP)
• Donald F. Sim Memorial Writing Competition
• Edward F. Langs IT Legal Writing Competition (Michigan State Bar) – 2nd place, July 2012

• Master of Laws (LL.M.) Law and Technology – University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, 2014 – 2015
• Juris Doctor (J.D.), Cum Laude – University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, 2012 – 2013
• Legum Licentiatus (LL.L.), Cum Laude – University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, 2009 – 2012
• D.E.C. – Music (Jazz guitar with specialization in Composition/Arranging) – Vanier College, Montreal, Quebec, 2005 – 2009