Skip to Content

Koren Thomson

Partner

Koren Thomson

Langues parlées: Anglais

Admission au Barreau: Newfoundland and Labrador, 2011

Legal Assistant(s): Joanne Taylor

Koren Thomson is a partner at Stewart McKelvey, practicing primarily in the area of civil litigation with particular emphasis on medical malpractice defense, privacy and access to information law, and class actions.

Called to the bar in Newfoundland and Labrador in 2011, Koren has built a robust litigation practice defending healthcare providers and institutions against medical malpractice claims. She regularly advises public bodies and third parties on privacy and access to information matters, providing practical guidance on complex regulatory compliance issues. Koren also defends class actions at the certification stage, working strategically to protect clients’ interests.

Koren has developed particular expertise in managing complex adversarial proceedings, including matters involving vexatious litigants. She often makes submissions to the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Newfoundland and Labrador, and has appeared at all levels of Court, including the Supreme Court of Canada.

Representative matters include:

  • Atlantic Lottery Corp. Inc v Babstock, 2020 SCC 19, [2020] 2 SCR 420, the seminal Supreme Court of Canada decision on waiver of tort in class actions;
  • Oleynik v Memorial University of Newfoundland, 2025 NLCA 22 (leave to appeal to SCC dismissed), wherein the NLCA upheld a decision declaring Anton Oleynik a vexatious litigant after 8 years of litigation with Memorial University of Newfoundland;
  • Shears-Rumbolt v Provincial Health Authority (Newfoundland and Labrador), 2025 NLSC 115, wherein the Provincial Health Authority successfully struck a proposed class action on the basis that it was frivolous and did not raise a cause of action, due in part to its intersection with patient safety law; and,
  • Smiley v The Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation, 2026 NLCA 3, wherein an appeal of a decision staying an action on the basis of forum non conveniens was upheld by the Court of Appeal.

Koren earned her LLB from the University of New Brunswick in 2010, and holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree with Honours in International Relations from Mount Allison University. She became a partner with Stewart McKelvey in 2018.

Études et carrière

Études

University of New Brunswick, LLB, 2010
Mount Allison University, BA, Honours in International Relations, 2004

Activités

Chair, NL Privacy Law Section, Canadian Bar Association
Member, International Association of Privacy Professionals
Member, Canadian Bar Association
Former chairperson, Thrive CYN St. John’s, Inc.
Former Women’s Law Forum Co-Chair, Canadian Bar Association (NL Branch)
Lecturer for the Law Society of Newfoundland and Labrador Bar Admission Course

image-description Plus Cacher