Chris McKibbin2024-06-12T15:24:01+00:00

Email
cmckibbin@fcl-law.com

Phone
416-596-8331

Fax
416-596-7562

Assistant

Trish Donner

Email

Tdonner@fcl-law.com

Phone
416-596-7724 ext. 233

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Chris McKibbin

Partner

Chris McKibbin is a leading Canadian insurance lawyer whose practice focuses on fidelity, commercial crime and financial institution bond matters, as well as fraud recovery, complex non-fidelity coverage matters and the defence of insureds under E&O liability policies.

In recognition of his outstanding achievements in these fields, Chris is ranked by Chambers and Partners as one of 25 Canadian lawyers in Insurance: Dispute Resolution for 2024, following his selection as one of 19 ranked lawyers in Canada for 2023. He was named by Lexpert® as a “Leading Lawyer to Watch” in Commercial Insurance Litigation in Canada in both 2018 and 2019, and has also been named to The World’s Leading Lawyers in Insurance and Reinsurance and Expert Guide: Insurance and Reinsurance.

Long considered the “go to” lawyer for fidelity insurance in Canada, Chris has provided over 20 years of quality service and excellent results for virtually every fidelity insurer.  He has been involved in most of the significant fidelity coverage matters in Canada since 2003. He served as counsel for the domestic leads in the financial institution bond coverage litigation arising out of Scott Rothstein’s $1 billion Ponzi scheme.  Chris also served as co-counsel for the successful insurers before the Court of Appeal for Ontario in the Iroquois Falls Community Credit Union decision, which is a leading decision in the fidelity area.  He was also co-counsel for two successful fidelity insurers in Royal Bank of Canada v. Société Générale, an appeal arising from the $100 million King’s Health Centre fraud.

In his fraud recovery practice, Chris achieves results for clients as efficiently as possible. He secures Mareva and other injunctive relief, as well as Norwich orders to successfully trace stolen funds.  In recent years, his fraud recovery practice has expanded to serve corporate clients on direct retainers, in addition to his long-standing insurer clients.

Chris has also developed a growing practice in complex non-fidelity coverage matters, especially in matters involving suspected fraud and/or media sensitivity, as insurers have come to trust him to bring the same detailed, thorough analysis to their other lines of business.  He also conducts the defence of insureds under E&O liability policies, and is typically retained in complex multi-party litigation where insurers and their insureds benefit from his strategic approach and strong practical sense.

Chris is frequently invited to speak on insurance law and fraud recovery, and also writes on these topics.  In addition to editing FCL Fidelity Blog, he has also written for the Fidelity Law Journal, The Globe and Mail and other Canadian and American publications.  Chris is also a co-author of Handling Fidelity Bond Claims, the leading North American reference work in the field, and serves as Vice-Chair of the ABA Fidelity & Surety Law Committee.

Chris was called to the Ontario Bar in 2003, at which time he was awarded the Osgoode Prize as one of the top 25 Bar Admission Course students in Ontario.  He earned his law degree from the University of Toronto, where he graduated on the Dean’s List.  Chris earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Manitoba, where he graduated with the Gold Medal and was a Finalist for the Rhodes Scholarship.

Education

  • University of Toronto, LL.B. 2002 (Dean’s Honour List, 2002)
  • University of Manitoba, B.A. 1999 (Gold Medal; Finalist for Rhodes Scholarship)

Call to Bar

  • Ontario, 2003

Awards & Achievements

  • Ranked by Chambers and Partners in Insurance: Dispute Resolution (Canada), 2024
  • Ranked by Chambers and Partners in Insurance: Dispute Resolution (Canada), 2023
  • LMG Expert Guide: Insurance and Reinsurance, 2021
  • The World’s Leading Lawyers in Insurance and Reinsurance, 2020
  • LMG Expert Guide: Insurance and Reinsurance, 2020
  • Lexpert® Canadian Legal Directory “Leading Lawyer to Watch” in Commercial Insurance Litigation in Canada, 2019
  • Lexpert® Canadian Legal Directory “Leading Lawyer to Watch” in Commercial Insurance Litigation in Canada, 2018
  • Toronto Pride Weekend Volunteer of the Year, 2015
  • Osgoode Society Award (Top 25 Bar Admission Course Students in Ontario), 2003

Memberships & Community Involvement

  • Law Society of Ontario
  • The Advocates’ Society
  • Metropolitan Toronto Lawyers Association
  • Canadian Defence Lawyers
  • American Bar Association – Fidelity & Surety Law Committee (Co-Chair, International Section)
  • Professional Liability Underwriting Society

Publications

  • “Two-And-Out, Eh? Canadian Fraud Recovery for American Fidelity and Subrogation Claims Professionals” ABA Fidelity & Surety Law Committee Newsletter (Fall 2023)
  • “Tell Them The North Remembers: Canadian Courts Follow American Courts’ Lead in Interpreting Social Engineering Fraud Coverage” ABA Fidelity & Surety Law Committee Newsletter (Winter 2022)
  • “Securities Claims” in Michael Keeley, Robert M. Flowers, Megan M. Manogue and Robyn L. Sondak, eds., Handling Fidelity Bond Claims, 3d ed. (Chicago: American Bar Association, 2019)
  • “Kleptocurrency: Crime insurers face new challenges with cryptocurrency,” Claims Canada (May 2019)
  • “The Fidelity Recovery Playbook: Practical Strategies for Maximizing Recovery” (ABA FSLC 2018 Fall Meeting, Philadelphia)
  • “Tales From The Crypt: Cryptocurrency Is Here — How Will Crime Insurers Respond?”, XXIV Fid. L.J. 1 (2018)
  • “Social Engineering Fraud: Is Coverage Available Under Commercial Crime Policies?” Expert Guides: Insurance and Reinsurance (August 2018)
  • “Combating Insurance Fraud with Data Analytics” Claims Magazine (January 2018)
  • “Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench finds no Coverage for Social Engineering Fraud Loss under Crime Policy” Covered Events (Defense Research Institute, November 2017)
  • “Criminal Prosecution of the Alleged Defaulter: How do Parallel Criminal Prosecutions affect the Fidelity Investigation?” (ABA FSLC 2017 Fall Meeting, Boston)
  • “Online Crime presents New Challenges for Insurers” The Globe and Mail (September 5, 2017)
  • “Harsh, But Fair: The Termination Provision in Commercial Crime and Financial Institution Coverages” (ABA FSLC 2017 Midwinter Meeting, New Orleans)
  • “The Point of No Return: Terminating Employees for Dishonesty and Litigating Employee Fraud Claims”, Employment Update (November 2015)
  • “The Enemy Is Within: What happens when the Defaulter completes the Application for Fidelity Coverage?” ABA Fidelity & Surety Law Committee Newsletter (Fall 2015)
  • “Raza Kayani: Ontario Court of Appeal addresses Scope of Fictitious Payee Defence under Canada’s Bills of Exchange Act” National Banking Law Review (April 2015)
  • “Tell Tale Signs: The Red Flags of Employee Fraud” Employment Update (March 2015)
  • “The View from the North: recent developments in Canadian Fidelity Law”, ABA Fidelity & Surety Law Committee Newsletter (Fall 2012)

Presentations

  • Speaker, CUMIS Credit Union Bonding Program Master Policyholder Meeting – Burlington, June 4, 2024
  • Speaker, Canadian Insurance Claims Managers Association Meeting – Winnipeg, April 3, 2024
  • Panelist, NetDiligence® Cyber Risk Summit – Toronto, March 19, 2024
  • Speaker, Intact Insurance National Specialty Lines Claims Meeting – Montreal, June 2, 2023
  • Co-Chair, American Bar Association Fidelity and Surety Law Committee Fall Meeting – New York, November 11-12, 2021
  • Speaker, American Bar Association Fidelity and Surety Law Committee Midwinter Meeting – New York, January 31, 2020
  • Speaker, American Bar Association Fidelity and Surety Law Committee Fall Meeting – Boston, November 8, 2019
  • Speaker, The Cyber Exchange – Hamilton, May 22, 2019
  • Speaker, Chubb Fidelity February – Calgary, Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto, February 12-28, 2019
  • Speaker, American Bar Association Fidelity & Surety Law Committee Conference – Philadelphia, November 8, 2018
  • Speaker, Fidelity Law Association Conference – Philadelphia, November 7, 2018
  • Speaker, The Cyber Exchange – Kitchener, October 2, 2018
  • Speaker, CUMIS Credit Union Bonding Program Master Policyholder Meeting – St. John’s, June 7, 2018
  • Panelist, NetDiligence® Cyber Risk Summit – Toronto, February 23, 2018
  • Panelist, American Bar Association Fidelity and Surety Law Committee Fall Meeting – Boston, November 9, 2017
  • Speaker, Fidelity Law Association Conference – Boston, November 8, 2017
  • Speaker, CUMIS General Insurance Company – Ontario Loss Prevention Seminar 2017
  • Speaker, Canadian Defence Lawyers Webinar – What Law Firms (and Everyone) should know about Social Engineering Fraud – Toronto, June 22, 2017
  • Speaker, American Bar Association Fidelity and Surety Law Committee Midwinter Meeting – New Orleans, January 19, 2017
  • Speaker, CUMIS Credit Union Bonding Program Master Policyholder Meeting – Kelowna, June 8, 2016
  • Speaker, Ontario Bar Association Primer on Insurance Coverage – Toronto, May 12, 2016
  • Co-Chair, Enterprise Risk Management for Corporate Counsel 2015

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