Fourteen New Partners Welcomed into Blakes Partnership

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TORONTO (January 30, 2013) – Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP (Blakes), one of Canada’s leading business law firms, has announced the addition of 14 new partners.

“I am pleased to announce our latest group of partners,” said Rob Granatstein, Firm Managing Partner. “This is a tremendous achievement and each one of these lawyers has worked very hard for their clients to get to this next stage in their career. On behalf of the Firm, I congratulate these individuals and welcome them to the partnership.”

Our new partner in the Montréal office is Patrick Menda. His practice focuses primarily on business acquisitions and divestitures, corporate finance, securities regulation, and corporate and commercial law. He advises clients in a variety of industries in connection with a broad range of matters, including the negotiation of commercial agreements, the preparation of continuous disclosure documents, corporate governance practices, as well as securities regulatory compliance.

We have 10 new partners in Toronto.

Anne Glover has extensive experience advising clients on all areas of the law surrounding e-discovery. She has also led the production of documents in numerous high-profile and complex competition and commercial litigation cases.

Mark Johnson assists domestic and international clients on a full range of business matters, with a focus on infrastructure, energy and project finance. He also advises both private-sector and government clients on procurement, outsourcing and commercial transactions.

Matthew Merkley represents clients in a wide variety of capital markets transactions and securities regulatory matters. He has acted for issuers and underwriters in public offerings of debt and equity, as well as bidders, target companies and financial advisers in public and private acquisitions and contested corporate transactions. He also acts for public issuers with respect to compensation, governance and disclosure matters.

Edward Miller advises on all areas of Canadian domestic and international income tax law, focusing on closed-end investment funds, mutual funds and exchange-traded funds, mergers and acquisitions, corporate reorganizations, and financings.

Ryan Morris focuses on corporate, transactional and securities litigation, regulatory proceedings, and class actions. He has experience acting on contested share sale transactions, oppression and fair value proceedings, applications with respect to shareholder rights plans and proxy contests, statutory plan of arrangement proceedings, and defending class actions involving prospectus misrepresentation and secondary market disclosure.

Holly Reid is an employment and labour lawyer who regularly advises clients on employment law, human rights, accommodation and accessibility issues, and with respect to the drafting of employment and related agreements. She also regularly advises on the employment and labour aspects of corporate transactions.

Melanie Sanchez’s practice focuses on private equity and venture capital, mergers and acquisitions, dispositions, as well as corporate organizations and reorganizations. She also has experience with project financings, asset-based financings and subordinated debt arrangements.

Brett Slaney’s expertise includes patent drafting and prosecution, portfolio management, and opinion work regarding patentability, infringement and validity. His practice focuses on patent-related issues in the software, electrical and mechanical fields, with particular emphasis on multidisciplinary systems.

Andrew Spiro’s practice focuses on all areas of income tax planning, including domestic and international corporate tax, and the taxation of income trusts, REITs and other investment vehicles. A significant portion of his practice involves structuring for cross-border mergers and acquisitions, with a focus on inbound structures.

Catherine Youdan advises clients on a wide range of securities and business law matters, including corporate finance and mergers and acquisitions. She has acted on behalf of issuers and underwriters in connection with public offerings of debt and equity securities and on behalf of purchasers (including private equity sponsors) and vendors in public and private acquisition transactions.

 

In Calgary, there are two new partners.

Jana Prete focuses on matters pertaining to energy, including conventional and non-conventional oil and gas, electricity, wind and coal.  She negotiates and drafts asset purchase and sale agreements, joint venture agreements and other industry-specific agreements.

Nick Tropak focuses on debt financing and related transactions. He regularly acts in secured and unsecured debt financing transactions, syndicated loan transactions, cross-border financings, acquisition financings, project financings, note and bond deals, debt reorganizations, asset-based lending transactions, and intercreditor arrangements.

Our Vancouver office welcomes Michelle Audet who represents clients on a broad range of corporate and securities matters.  She advises clients on public offerings, private placements, mergers and acquisitions, restructurings, and take-over bids. She also advises public companies with respect to general corporate matters and compliance with securities legislation.

About Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP

At Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP, we serve a diverse national and international client base and our integrated office network provides clients with access to the Firm’s full spectrum of capabilities in virtually every area of business law. Blakes has offices across Canada and in New York, Chicago, London, Bahrain, Beijing and associated offices in Al-Khobar and Shanghai. In 2012, Blakes was named “Canada Law Firm of the Year” for the fourth consecutive year by Who’s Who Legal and “Law Firm of the Year: Canada” for the third time by Chambers and Partners. For the last five years, Blakes has been the busiest Canadian M&A law firm, according to Bloomberg and Thomson Reuters league tables.

More information on Blakes is available by visiting the Firm’s website at www.blakes.com or by following us on Twitter @BlakesLaw.

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