TORONTO (February 5, 2008) – LAWFUEL – Law Firm Newswire – Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP (Blakes), one of Canada’s leading business law firms, is pleased to announce the addition of 19 new partners.
“Every one of these lawyers has shown a real commitment and has worked extremely hard to meet the needs of their clients,” said Rob Granatstein, National Managing Partner of Blakes. “We welcome each of them into the Blakes partnership and wish them all the best in this important next step of their career.”
There are two new partners in the Montréal office. Alfred Buggé practises securities, corporate and business law, with a focus on private and public offering transactions, take-over bids, mergers and acquisitions, private equity and venture capital transactions. John Leopardi’s practice focuses on domestic and international corporate taxation, including mergers and acquisitions, corporate reorganizations and financings, private equity investments, and income tax aspects of partnerships, trusts and joint ventures.
In Toronto, the following nine lawyers are now partners. Jason Beeho assists employers in all areas of workplace law, including employment standards, human rights, labour relations, occupational health and safety, workplace safety and insurance, and wrongful dismissal litigation. Shlomi Feiner is a member of the Securities Group. His practice focuses on mergers and acquisitions, as well as securities and corporate law. Abdul-Basit Khan practises in all areas of management-side labour and employment law, including the drafting and negotiation of executive employment contracts, advising on the labour and employment aspects of mergers and acquisitions, defending employers in wrongful dismissal litigation, labour relations matters, employment standards disputes, human rights complaints, and health and safety matters. Kate McGilvray’s practice focuses mainly on mergers and acquisitions. She has advised many international clients (having worked in both the U.K. and France) and is fluent in French. Parna Sabet-Stephenson has expertise in all aspects of technology law including outsourcing, joint ventures, technology acquisitions and licensing, and electronic commerce. She has also acted in a variety of other commercial and corporate law and consumer law matters. Cheryl Satin advises a broad range of clients in relation to mergers and acquisitions, debt and equity investments, outsourcing, service and supply arrangements, insurance and reinsurance structures, and various other aspects of corporate and commercial law. Julie Soloway represents and advises both domestic and foreign clients on all aspects of competition law (with a particular emphasis on cross-border M&A), as well as all aspects of foreign investment review pursuant to the Investment Canada Act. Paul Stepak is in the Tax Group. He practises primarily in the areas of corporate, partnership and personal income taxation, with a focus on domestic and cross-border income tax planning. Michael Stevenson provides corporate and commercial advice to a broad base of clients, including publicly traded companies, entrepreneurs and private corporations.
In Calgary, Garth Anderson has joined the partnership. He is a real estate and infrastructure lawyer, whose practice focuses on the acquisition, development and financing of commercial real estate and infrastructure projects.
Five lawyers in the Vancouver office have joined the Blakes partnership. Francis Chang is a corporate lawyer with significant experience in international transactions, private equity investment, mergers and acquisitions, licensing, technology, broadcast and media areas. Caroline Findlay is an experienced business and regulatory lawyer whose practice focuses on the development of projects in renewable energy, mining and forestry. She has expertise in environmental law and has been extensively involved in negotiations with aboriginal communities. Roy Millen has broad experience in commercial, aboriginal and trade litigation, as well as constitutional, municipal, administrative and criminal matters. Neal Wang practises in the Financial Services Group. His practice includes a significant range of financing transactions, acting both for lenders as well as corporate borrowers across a broad spectrum of industry sectors. Kevin Zimka practises taxation and business law. While advising on all aspects of income and commodity taxation, Kevin’s focus is on domestic and international corporate taxation and he acts for both public and private corporations.
Mark Adkins from our New York office has also become a partner. Mark practises a broad range of corporate, commercial and securities law, focusing on Canada/U.S. cross-border mergers, acquisitions and corporate finance.
We also have a new partner in our London office. Markus Viirland’s practice focuses primarily on public financings, mergers and acquisitions, and general corporate and regulatory compliance matters on behalf of issuers and dealers.
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 is 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.
