Peter Henderson, chair of the Ontario Bar Association's civil litigation group and lawyer at Kramer Henderson in Toronto, says while he doesn't know Lenczner personally, he certainly knows his career. With a track record like his, it's no surprise that Lenczner will be awarded the 2007 OBA Award for Excellence in Civil Litigation in the fall at a gala dinner with more than 500 lawyers, judges, and dignitaries.

"I do know, being a commercial lawyer in a small litigation boutique, that if you were to ask 100 lawyers in Canada who's named the top civil counsel in Canada, likely a great number of them would name Mr. Lenczner. He's renowned for his litigation ability and for the amount of success he's had winning cases."

Henderson says the decision to bestow the award on Lenczner was unanimous, and what stood out was his ability and history as one of Canada's top litigators.

Part of the gala event includes speeches and "a bit of a roast," says Henderson. One person who is sure to have a few words to say is James Farley, former supervising judge of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice's Commercial List.

Farley stepped down last May ("After 17 years, I needed a change and so did counsel," he laughs) and is now senior counsel at McCarthys. During his time on the bench of the Commercial List - which was established in 1991 for the expedited hearing of certain actions, applications, and motions in Toronto involving issues  of commercial law - Lenczner was a frequent flyer in Farley's courtroom.

"He appeared before me on a fairly regular basis. It was always entertaining and exciting when I had Alan in front of me," Farley says. "I shared many of his views that you should get right to the heart of the litigation quickly as opposed to dancing around the edges.

"Alan's a marvelous advocate. He's a tough competitor; sometimes outrageous but always very fair. There are a lot of people with Alan's ability who could be tempted to skirt matters. Alan always dealt with them head on."

Ontario Chief Justice Warren Winkler says he always enjoys Lenczner's sense of humour and his creativity as an advocate.

"He's got a wonderful wit and sense of humour and warmth, and I just love to see him work," he says.

"He's a good friend and I think he's an interesting person. He's a deep person. I'm very fond of him."

Indeed, it's Lenczner's creativity and ability to deal with the heart of the matter that has served him well. 

Despite breaking out to start his own firm with Slaght (who was also at McCarthys) in 1992, Lenczner enjoyed his time spent litigating at the large firm, working alongside such notable lawyers as John Robinette, George D. Finlayson, and Doug Laidlaw. He describes the firm's litigation department at the time as "very active and vibrant, and I got caught up in that excitement."

"The litigation department was very small at that time. Everybody knew everybody else's business. We socialized a fair bit and we talked to each other about our cases," he says. "It was just like a nice, small litigation firm. And then it grew and it grew and it grew, but it was always a terrific place."

He says once McCarthys' litigation department reached about 70 lawyers, "All of a sudden I'd be in the southeast corner of one floor and Ron [Slaght] would be in the northwest corner of another floor. We used to be able to yell at each other in our offices and tell jokes. Now I had to call to find out if he was there," he says.

When he and Slaght decided to part ways with McCarthys in 1992 and hang out their own shingle, Lenczner says he likened the experience to a dinner party.

"When you go to a small dinner party, you talk to everyone. When you go to a large cocktail party, it's just a lot of 'How are you? How are you?' I was trying to recapture the small dinner party," he says.

"That was my feeling at the time. Now I don't know whether it wasn't just, whatever they call it, middle-age crisis. I just needed to do something different."

Going from a large shop like McCarthys to a two-lawyer firm is about as different as you can get, but Lenczner Slaght quickly filled out with some McCarthys alumni and new associates.

A mentor to young lawyers

If you had to discern which of Lenczner's passions is strongest, mentoring young lawyers would be right up there.