Jeff Rosekat

Lawyer & Co-Founder

Jeff advises clients dealing with complex commercial disputes, contentious negotiations, and other high-risk situations. In Grade Four, he decided to become a lawyer so that he could buy a Winnebago for his mom.

The law should not be an impediment to business, and neither should lawyers. We need to remember always that it is our clients who are building something of value. Legal advice is just one of the tools to help build that value. Focusing on understanding on our clients' goals and priorities means that the lawyers at Spark Law deliver relevant, practical, common sense advice that helps solve problems rather than creating more.

- Jeff Rosekat

Jeff was called to the Ontario bar in 2000, having first decided he wanted to be a lawyer in Grade 4. At that early age, the decision pretty much boiled down to wanting to have a job that would enable him to buy his parents a Winnebago so that summer-long camping trips would be a bit more comfortable.

Jeff did a co-op degree in English Literature at the University of Waterloo, and held jobs in communications positions at both the Provincial and Federal governments, a stint as a copy editor at Prentice Hall Publishing, and eight months as a technical writer with Delrina Corporation.

Recognizing that Winnebago-buying job opportunities with only an undergraduate degree in English literature are quite limited, Jeff fulfilled his nine-year-old self’s plan and went to Osgoode Hall Law School at York University.

Jeff’s first Bay Street job was at Baker & McKenzie’s Toronto Office. Jeff and his long-time mentor Jonathan Wigley moved to Gardiner Roberts in 2006, where Jeff continued his practice for nine-and-a-half years until starting Spark Law.

Throughout his years of practice, Jeff has counselled clients in complex commercial cases, privacy matters, commercial fraud files, restructurings and insolvencies, professional negligence matters, and all manner of contract cases. Jeff has advised small businesses, entrepreneurs and start-ups, as well as institutional lenders, publicly-traded companies, and multinationals.

This wide experience has given Jeff a keen ability to recognise and assess business risk at an early stage, and advise clients on those slight course corrections which can be made in order to avoid the higher risk and cost of commercial litigation.

Working on Bay Street for 15 years convinced Jeff that there had to be a better way of delivering legal services to clients. That conviction (and some very gentle arm-twisting from Jacqueline) led him to start up Spark Law.

Jeff was on the board of directors of Justice for Children and Youth for eight years, and was Chair of the Board for five of those years. He has a strong belief that lawyers should give back to the communities in which they live and practice.

Jeff still hasn’t bought his mom that Winnebago.

Representative Cases & Clients