Stephen Stohn

Stephen Stohn Partner

Since 1979, as an entertainment and copyright lawyer Stephen has been providing strategic legal advice to performers, advertisers, merchandisers, recording artists, songwriters, multimedia creators, broadcasters, and film and television producers.

But he started his career ten years earlier, commencing with part-time appearances as a performing artist and continuing with active work as a songwriter (including two songs that reached the Canadian Top 10, Maybe Your Heart and Once In A Long Time).

Stephen is perhaps best-known to the public over decades as executive producer of the Degrassi television franchise, and its related webisodes, merchandising and web sites. In addition, for nearly 20 years until 2009, he was executive producer of the telecast of Canada’s music awards show The Juno Awards, and during that period was a director and then Chair of Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, the organization responsible for The Juno Awards. He was also Chair of MusiCounts, a charity associated with The Juno Awards, which among other things distributes musical instruments to schools in need. He also executive produced the teen drama television series Instant Star, English Canada’s first prime-time soap opera Riverdale, as well as two feature films, Me? and The Clown Murders.

Stephen is currently serving his second term as the chancellor of Trent University.

Industry Recognition

  • Stephen has been nominated 28 times in Canada’s national television awards ceremony, the Canadian Screen Awards (formerly the Gemini Awards), and has won 14 times. In 2011 he was nominated for a primetime Emmy Award and won a Peabody Award. He was subsequently nominated three more times for a primetime Emmy Awards.
  • In 2005, Stephen received a commendation from the Government of Ontario reading in part: “You are no stranger to Canadian show business, having worked, and excelled, in nearly all facets of the industry. You seem to have worn every possible hat—from performing artist to accomplished entertainment lawyer—and, in doing so, have amassed an incomparable wealth of knowledge and experience. Your skills and expertise have stood you in good stead, propelling you from success to success. Whether producing the internationally acclaimed television series Degrassi: The Next Generation or playing a key role in the development of Epitome Pictures, you take on challenges in a manner appropriately echoed by the words of the legendary Samuel Goldwyn: All opportunities in the world are waiting to be grasped by people who are in love with what they are doing.”
  • In 2011, he was inducted into the Canadian Music & Broadcast Industry Hall of Fame.
  • In 2015, Trent University awarded him an honorary doctorate, Doctor of Letters (D.Litt).
  • In 2023, Stephen was made a Member of the Order of Canada, for his long-time contributions to the Canadian entertainment industry.

Professional Activities

  • Active in lobbying for reform of Canada’s copyright laws
  • Has co-chaired numerous entertainment law conferences under the auspices of the Law Society of Upper Canada and the Canadian Bar Association
  • A partner for 10 years in Canada’s largest law firm, McCarthy Tétrault
  • Has appeared as an expert witness before the Copyright Board of Canada
  • For nine years he was a Director and Chair of the Strategic Planning Committee of Ontario Media Development Corporation (now called Ontario Creates)
  • Has participated as a director, committee member or founder of a number of cultural industry associations
  • Currently chair of Orange Lounge Recordings, and a director of the Canadian Retransmission Collective, the Producers Audiovisual Collective of Canada, and ISAN Canada
  • Member of the Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers Association of Canada (SOCAN)

Education

  • Called to the Ontario Bar – 1979
  • University of Toronto, JD. – 1977
  • Trent University, B.A. – 1969
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Diana Cafazzo

Diana practises primarily in the areas of entertainment and copyright law. She represents production companies, distributors, broadcasters, online vendors, creative individuals and others in all facets of the development, production and exploitation of film, television, publishing, music and digital media projects.

Diana represents Canadian and international companies in structuring production arrangements, treaty co-productions, co-ventures, and corporate mergers and acquisitions in the Canadian cultural industries.

Diana also advises a wide range of clients on collective and other copyright matters.

Before joining the firm, Diana was a partner at the law firm McMillan Binch LLP (now McMillan LLP).

Industry Recognition

  • Named Toronto “Lawyer of the Year” in Entertainment Law for 2018 and 2014 by The Best Lawyers In Canada
  • Recognized as a leading entertainment lawyer in The Lexpert/American Lawyer Media’s Guide to the Leading 500 Lawyers in Canada, The Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory, Who’s Who Legal Canada and The Best Lawyers in Canada
  • Featured in Lexpert magazine as one of the “15 to Watch” in a review of Canada’s top women lawyers
  • Recognized as a leading media lawyer by Euromoney’s Guide to the World’s Leading Technology, Media & Telecommunications Lawyers and Guide to the World’s Leading Women in Business Law

Professional Activities

  • Speaker at industry conferences and seminars, including for organizations The Canadian Film Centre, The Documentary Organization of Canada, Writers Guild of Canada, Women in the Director’s Chair, Canadian Worldwide Short Film Festival, The Law Society of Upper Canada, The Canadian Bar Association
  • Director and Secretary, Interactive Ontario (Past)
  • Director, The Feature Film Project (Past)
  • Director, The Toronto Arts Council (Past)

Education

  • Called to the Ontario Bar – 1988
  • University of Toronto, LL.B. (with honours) – 1986
  • University of Toronto, B.Comm (with high distinction) – 1983
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David Dembroski

David practises in all areas of entertainment law including music, television, theatre, publishing and interactive media.

His clients consist of well-known recording artists, record companies, producers of dramatic and reality programs, writers, directors, theatrical producers and music and book publishers.
He has helped a number of his clients expand into complementary businesses such as celebrity endorsements and merchandising.

David’s practice also includes sports law where he advises individuals and companies on sports-related matters such as advertising and promotions, merchandising and licensing, broadcast rights, franchise operations, intellectual property, player contracts and ticket matters, among others.

David was a partner at the law firm of Aird & Berlis LLP, where he practised for nine years.

Industry Recognition

  • Recognized as a leading practitioner of entertainment law by The Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory
    Professional Activities
  • Frequent speaker at conferences on music, sports, television, technology and other entertainment topics
  • Director and Secretary of Interactive Ontario.

Education

  • Called to the Ontario Bar – 1995
  • University of Windsor, LL.B. – 1993
  • University of Western Ontario, B.A. (Hons.) – 1989
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Erin Finlay

Erin is a partner with the firm where she practises in the areas of entertainment law, copyright, privacy, broadcast regulatory and cultural policy. She provides a wide range of legal services and strategic direction to producers, artists, musicians, authors, publishers, trade associations, copyright collectives and cultural businesses in the development, production, exploitation and protection of film, television, publishing, music and digital media projects.

Erin has led the negotiation, drafting, and enforcement of multi-party collective licences, directed complex copyright tariff and CRTC broadcast regulatory and policy proceedings, and has appeared numerous times before the Copyright Board of Canada, the CRTC, the Federal Court of Appeal, the Supreme Court of Canada and Committees of the Department of Canadian Heritage, Innovation, Science and Economic Development (ISED), and the Senate of Canada. Her expertise spans a range of legal, policy and government relations experience in the music, film and television production and publishing industries.

Before joining the firm, Erin was the Chief Legal Officer at the Canadian Media Producers Association (CMPA), where she provided legal advice and strategic direction to the organization and its producer member companies on a variety of matters, including CRTC regulatory proceedings, business affairs, television financing, tax credits, broadcast licences, terms of trade, Canada Media Fund policies and guidelines, intellectual property, and the role of copyright and licensing in our ever-changing media landscape. Prior to her work at the CMPA, she was General Counsel and Director of Government Relations at Access Copyright and an associate practising in the entertainment law group at Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP. With more than 15 years’ experience as both in-house counsel and in private practice, she brings a practical perspective to resolving complex issues and advocating for her clients in Canada’s creative industries.

Erin has deep roots in and passion for the creative industries as a singer and musician and she recently performed on the Grammy- and Juno-nominated Toronto Symphony Orchestra’s recording of Handel’s Messiah.

Professional Activities

  • Course Director, Copyright Master Class, Intellectual Property Institute of Canada (IPIC) McGill, 2018-2019
  • Board Director, Canadian Retransmission Collective, Producers Audiovisual Collective  and ISAN-Canada
  • Lecturer, Osgoode Certificate in Entertainment Law
  • Speaker and guest lecturer at various legal and industry conferences and educational institutions, including the Law Society of Ontario, Ontario Bar Association, Canadian Bar Association, Digital Media at the Crossroads, Banff International Media Festival, International Institute of Communications, Association Littéraire et Artistique Internationale (ALAI), Intellectual Property Institute of Canada (IPIC), Toronto Intellectual Property Group, Digital Book World, Federated Press, University of Toronto, Osgoode Hall Law School, Humber College and George Brown College School of Continuing Studies
  • Member, CMPA, WIFT-T, Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television

Education

  • Osgoode Hall Law School, LLM, specialization in intellectual property law – 2012
    Called to the Ontario Bar – 2003
  • Queen’s University, J.D. – 2002
  • Wilfrid Laurier University, B.A. (Hons) – 1996

Community Involvement

  • Chair of the Board, Alumni chorister, Toronto Mendelssohn Choir
  • Board Director, Work in Culture
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Ron Hay

With over twenty years’ experience as both in-house and external counsel, Ron provides strategic and practical advice to Canadian and international clients on all aspects of the media, entertainment and communications industries, focusing on film and tele­vision rights acquisition, production, co-production structures and distribution/exploitation opportunities.

Ron founded Stohn Hay LLP in 2003 with Stephen Stohn and David Dembroski, and in 2005 they welcomed Diana Ca­fazzo and Sandra Richmond to form Stohn Hay Cafazzo Dembroski Richmond LLP.

Ron began his law career as an associate at the law firm McMillan Binch (now McMillan), and then left to join the ranks of in-house counsel, first at Alliance Atlantis Communications Inc. (where he was Vice-President, Business & Legal Affairs – Television), then at Balmur Entertainment Ltd. (where he was Vice-President, Business & Legal Affairs). He returned to private practice in 2001.

Law is Ron’s second profession. Prior to attending law school he worked as a professional musi­cian for six years; he played viola with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Canadian Opera Com­pany Orchestra and the Hamilton Philharmonic, and was also active as a recording studio and freelance musician. While at law school he regularly played in the orchestras of both Les Misérables and Phantom of the Opera, often with a law text open at his feet. Memorable performances include several concerts with the TSO at Carnegie Hall, playing with the Three Tenors at Maple Leaf Gardens, participating in the opening week of Roy Thomson Hall, and participating in the opening ceremonies of the SkyDome (now Rogers Centre).

Ron brings to his practice a passion for the arts and the creative process, and understands the importance of establishing professional relationships with those who share and embrace that passion in the creative industries. 

Industry Recognition

  • Board Member – Ontario Creates (formerly Ontario Media Development Corporation)
  • Recognized as a leading practitioner of entertainment law by the Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory and Woodward/White’s The Best Lawyers in Canada, and has been included in The Lexpert/American Lawyer Guide to the Leading 500 Lawyers in Canada annually since 2010

Professional Activities

  • Regular speaker / panelist at industry conferences and seminars, including serving as Co-Chair of the biennial Law Society of Upper Canada Entertainment & Media Law Symposium from 2011 to 2017

Education

  • Called to the Ontario Bar – 1994
  • Osgoode Hall Law School, LL.B. – 1992
  • University of Toronto, B.Mus. – 1983

Community Involvement

  • Board Chair – Trio Arkel Chamber Music Group (current)
  • Board Member – Concerts in Care (current)
  • Board Secretary – Toronto Symphony Orchestra (2001-2013)
  • Board Member (including stint as Chair) – Volcano Theatre (1996-2010)
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Angelika Heim

Angelika Heim (she/her) is a partner at Stohn Hay Cafazzo Dembroski Richmond LLP and represents clients in the business of entertainment, media and digital content. Before joining the firm, Angelika was an associate at Goodman and Carr LLP.

Angelika works closely with clients in the creative industries, advising on transactional matters, disputes and business strategies related to film, television, branded content, talent agreements, music recording and publishing, digital content, book publishing, and intellectual property protection.

Her film and TV clients rely on Angelika to shepherd a production from development to post-production, which can include securing intellectual property rights, negotiating distribution and broadcast agreements, engaging talent, reviewing for errors and omissions, and navigating the funding agencies, financing models and tax credit opportunities both in Canada and with international partners.

Angelika represents a broad spectrum of music clients from emerging artists to JUNO- and Grammy-winning sensations. She also works with independent labels and publishers on engaging talent and organizing the production, licensing, exploitation, and sale of their intellectual property rights.

Angelika’s roots are in the creative industries. Before becoming a lawyer, she worked in the theatre, television, news, film and magazine publishing industries as an actor, producer, director, writer and editor.

Industry Recognition

Recognized as a leading practitioner of entertainment law by:

  • the Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory; and
  • Woodward/White’s The Best Lawyers in Canada

Professional Activities

  • Frequent panelist at conferences on film/TV, copyright, music and other entertainment topics, and guest lecturer at universities/ colleges and industry associations across Canada. She has been welcomed to sessions at the Law Society of Ontario, the Ontario Bar Association, Banff International Media Festival, Canada’s Music Incubator, Intellectual Property Institute Canada (IPIC) McGill, Osgoode Hall Law School, and Ryerson University
  • Board Member, Canadian Country Music Association and Member of the CCMA Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee
  • Board Member, Across the Board, championing equality and inclusion for women in the music industry
  • Executive Member, The Music Den, Ryerson University
  • Member, Music Industry Anti-Harassment Group, educating and advocating for respectful and harassment-free workplaces in the music industry
  • Member and Past Chair, Ontario Bar Association Entertainment, Media and Communications Section
  • Former Director and Vice-Chair, Theatre Passe-Muraille

Education

  • Called to the Ontario Bar – 2005
  • University of Windsor, LL.B. – 2004
  • University of Western Ontario, B.A. (Hons.) Theatre and English
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Paul Neville

Paul practises in all areas of film and television and corporate law, including film and tele­vision rights acquisition, production, co-production structures, financing and distribution/exploitation opportunities, and corporate shareholder, structuring and financing arrangements.

Before joining Stohn Hay Cafazzo Dembroski Richmond LLP, Paul was a corporate lawyer at Stikeman Elliott LLP, with a focus on mergers and acquisitions in the field of entertainment. He also worked as in-house counsel at Indigo Books & Music, where he helped support the company’s creative vision, including the launch of its podcast. His passion for the arts, and a desire to work with artists, led him to return to private practice.

A lifelong lover of all things film and TV, Paul has had the opportunity to work with production companies in various capacities, including producing short films and working as a script consultant. He is focused on providing practical legal advice to the creative community to help bring artistic dreams to life. When not practising law, he’s either watching movies or talking about them.

Professional Activities

  • Lecturer and Course Designer, Dalhousie University, Advanced Mergers and Acquisitions.
  • Member, Canadian Bar Association.

Education

  • Called to the Ontario Bar – 2015
  • Dalhousie University, J.D. – 2014
  • University of Toronto, H.B.A. – 2008; M.A – 2010
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Sandra Richmond

Sandra’s practice focuses on entertainment and media law and on corporate law within those industries.

She advises a variety of clients (including producers, writers, broadcasters, distributors and financiers) on all aspects of the development, financing, production and exploitation of film, television, publishing and digital media projects. Her twenty years of experience include helping clients with rights acquisition, errors and omissions insurance, interim financing, broadcast and distribution agreements, endorsement agreements, shareholder agreements and share acquisitions.

Sandra was a partner at the Toronto law firm McMillan Binch (now McMillan).

Before studying law, she was an editor at Oxford University Press and HBJ/Holt. Since becoming a lawyer she has edited two non-fiction books and, somewhat compulsively, almost everything else she reads.

Professional Activities

  • Frequent lecturer and panelist at seminars for various organizations, including Canadian Film Centre, Ontario Media Development Corporation, Telefilm Canada, Women in Film and Television, National Screen Institute, Women in the Director’s Chair, Interactive Ontario, Canadian Worldwide Short Film Festival and ImagiNATIVE
  • Member of the Canadian Media Producers Association
  • Past member of the Executive of the Entertainment, Media and Communications Section of the Ontario Bar Association

Industry Recognition

  • Recognized as a leading practitioner of entertainment law by The Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory

Education

  • Called to the Ontario Bar – 1996
  • University of Toronto, LL.B. – 1994
  • Carleton University, B.J. – 1978
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Max Rothschild

Max practises in the areas of entertainment, music, digital media and intellectual property law. Before joining Stohn Hay Cafazzo Dembroski Richmond LLP, Max worked as in-house counsel for the Canadian Musical Reproduction Rights Agency Ltd. (CMRRA) and as an associate at Bereskin & Parr LLP. With experience both as in-house counsel and in private practice, Max brings a practical and business-oriented perspective to legal matters.

Max works with a wide variety of clients, ranging from emerging and established artists to music publishers and copyright collectives. He assists them with negotiating and drafting agreements, intellectual property enforcement, licensing and royalties, and provides general copyright law advice.

Max has prepared legal and policy submissions for various levels of court and government, including the Copyright Board of Canada, and the Departments of Canadian Heritage (PCH) and Innovation, Science and Economic Development (ISED).

He is also the corporate secretary for Interactive Ontario, a not-for-profit trade association dedicated to the economic and creative growth of the Interactive Digital Media (IDM) industry in Ontario.

Education

  • Called to the Ontario Bar – 2014
  • Dalhousie University, J.D. – 2013
  • McGill University, B.A. – 2009

Community Involvement

  • Board Member, Artists’ Legal Advice Services (ALAS)
  • Board Member, Images Film Festival
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Stephen Stohn

Stephen has been providing strategic legal advice to performers, advertisers, merchandisers, recording artists, songwriters, multimedia creators, broadcasters and film and television producers as an entertainment and copyright lawyer since 1979.

He is currently Executive Producer of the television series Degrassi: Next Class (streamed worldwide on Netflix in over 17 languages), and previously has been Executive Producer of earlier iterations of the Degrassi franchise and of series such as Open Heart, Instant Star and The L.A. Complex and their related websites, webisodes, new media and social media initiatives. He was Executive Producer of the lifestyle television series Savoir Faire and Room Service, and Executive Produced Riverdale, English Canada’s first prime-time soap opera, as well as two feature films, Me? and The Clown Murders (starring John Candy).

He has worked in the entertainment industry for over 40 years commencing with part-time appearances as a performing artist and continuing with active work as a songwriter (including two songs that reached the Canadian Top 10, Maybe Your Heart and Once In A Long Time).

Industry Recognition

  • Recognized as a leading practitioner of entertainment law by The Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory and Woodward/White’s The Best Lawyers in Canada.
  • In 2011 he was inducted into the Canadian Music & Broadcast Industry Hall of Fame.
  • He has also been nominated 26 times in Canada’s national television awards ceremony, the Canadian Screen Awards (formerly the Gemini Awards), and has won 13 times.
  • He has been nominated for four primetime Emmy Awards, and has won a Peabody Award.

Professional Activities

  • Active in lobbying for reform of Canada’s copyright laws.
  • Has co-chaired numerous entertainment law conferences under the auspices of the Law Society of Upper Canada and the Canadian Bar Association.
  • Has appeared as an expert witness before the Copyright Board of Canada.
  • For nearly 20 years, until 2009, Stephen was a Director and then Chair of the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS) and Executive Producer of the Juno Awards, Canada’s national music awards show. He was also Chair of MusiCounts, the music industry charity associated with CARAS.
  • For nine years, until 2010, he was a Director and Chair of the Strategic Planning Committee of Ontario Media Development Corporation.
  • Currently a Director of Orange Lounge Recordings / inDiscover Recordings, a Director of the Canadian Retransmission Collective, a Director of the Producers Audiovisual Collective of Canada, a Director of ISAN Canada
  • Has participated as a director, committee member or founder of a number of cultural industry associations
  • Former director of Motion Picture Distribution Inc. (General Partner of Motion Picture Distribution LP)
  • Member of the Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers Association of Canada (SOCAN)

Education

  • Called to the Ontario Bar – 1979
  • University of Toronto, JD. – 1977
  • Trent University, B.A. – 1969
  • Trent University, D.Litt. (honoris causa) – 2015
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Lidia Ball

Lidia is Office Manager at Stohn Hay Cafazzo Dembroski Richmond LLP, a position that she has held since the firm’s inception.

In addition to keeping the lawyers in line, Lidia oversees systems and operations, and handles all accounting matters.

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