VANCOUVER (January 15, 2008) – LAWFUEL – Legal Announcements – Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP (Blakes), one of Canada’s leading business law firms, today announced that senior practitioners William Sirett, Bruce Sinclair and Robert Kopstein have joined its Vancouver office.
“The addition of Bill, Bruce and Robert will result in Blakes having the pre-eminent securities and tax practices in Vancouver,” said Jim Christie, Chairman of Blakes. “And with the recent additions of George Burke and Sharon dos Remedios announced at the end of December, Blakes is now clearly positioned as one of the top business law firms in Vancouver.”
Bill Sirett has a national practice in the areas of securities and corporate law with an emphasis on corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions, reorganizations and privatization transactions. He advises public corporations and their boards of directors and special committees with an emphasis on regulatory compliance, corporate governance, directors’ duties and responsibilities, and transaction structuring. He also has extensive experience in the fields of structured finance, asset monetizations, income funds and real estate investment trusts. Mr. Sirett is named in Legal Media Group’s Guide to the World’s Leading Capital Markets Lawyers, in The 2008 Lexpert/American Lawyer Guide to the Leading 500 Lawyers in Canada and ranked in The Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory 2007.
Bruce Sinclair is a senior chartered accountant and tax practitioner. He has a national and international profile and practice, and is widely regarded as one of the country’s best mining tax practitioners. He works extensively with clients in domestic and international settings on tax and associated accounting and financial matters related to mergers, acquisitions and structured financings. Mr. Sinclair has an extensive list of professional affiliations including the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants in British Columbia, the Canadian Tax Foundation and the International Fiscal Association. He is a former governor and a member of the Executive Committee of the Canadian Tax Foundation. He writes extensively, including articles for the Canadian Tax Journal, and is co-author of Taxation of Canadian Mining Income for Carswell publishers. He also lectures regularly at regional and national conferences. He is ranked in The Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory 2007.
Robert Kopstein practises in the domestic and international tax fields with a particular emphasis on Canada-U.S. cross-border transactions. He also has a national practice, and has extensive experience in corporate finance, structured finance, and mergers and acquisitions involving public and private companies and governmental agencies. Mr. Kopstein has lectured and published papers on a variety of topics to various regional and national organizations. He also co-authored the book Mergers and Acquisition of Privately Held Businesses, contributed to a United Nations’ study on tax treaties between developed and developing countries, and assisted the Attorney General of B.C. with drafting certain amendments to the Company Act relating to limited liability companies. He was principal adviser to the B.C. government on the creation of the B.C. Unlimited Liability Company legislation. He is also ranked in The Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory 2007, The Best Lawyers in Canada 2007 and Chambers Global: The World’s Leading Lawyers for Business 2008. Mr. Kopstein is called to the bar in B.C., Alberta and Ontario. He has an LL.M. in taxation from the University of Florida.
Before coming to Blakes, Bill Sirett, Bruce Sinclair and Robert Kopstein were partners with Borden Ladner Gervais.
“The additions of Bill, Bruce and Robert add greatly to our already strong team. We look forward to having them on board,” said Bill Maclagan, Office Managing Partner in Vancouver.
Founded in 1856, Blakes has more than 550 lawyers and offices in Canada, the United States, Europe and China. Blakes was recently named “Canadian Law Firm of the Year” by Chambers and Partners Legal Publishers, one of the world’s leading publishers of legal directories and trade periodicals. In October 2007, and for the fifth consecutive year, Blakes was the only law firm named one of “Canada’s Top 100 Employers” in Maclean’s newsmagazine. More information on Blakes is available by visiting the Firm’s Web site at www.blakes.com.
