Advising on mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance transactions and other significant corporate matters across industries, John is co-head of the firm’s M&A Practice and is widely recognized as one of Canada’s leading corporate and securities lawyers, with deep deal acumen and strong technical skill to advance clients’ business strategies.John has a broad range of experience in complex M&A, transactional, securities, private equity, regulatory, governance, activism and compliance matters. With an international range of clients, John represents domestic and foreign acquirors, private equity sponsors, targets, special committees, boards of directors and investment banks in all aspects of M&A (both public and private), including hostile takeover bids, strategic review processes, proxy contests, going-private transactions, private equity transactions and negotiated acquisitions.John regularly advises companies, directors and shareholders on corporate governance, crisis management, activism, compliance and other critical situations. He also has extensive experience in corporate finance transactions, representing issuers, underwriters and investors in domestic and international debt and equity public offerings and private placements.
Corporate and M&A
Hall of Fame
The lawyers at the very top of the profession, widely known and respected by peers and clients for their longstanding involvement in market-leading work.
Jeff is widely recognized as one of Canada’s leading M&A lawyers. He has advised purchasers, targets and special committees on many of Canada’s most significant M&A transactions, and has extensive experience in both negotiated and unsolicited transactions. He also advises public companies on corporate governance, shareholder activism, restructurings and securities law matters, and in connection with public offerings of equity and debt securities. He has experience in a wide range of industries, including mining, media and telecommunications, real estate, financial services, power generation and retail/consumer products.
Rising stars
Rising stars with regular involvement in their team's key work, and recognition from peers or clients as being ones to watch.
Next Generation Partners
Junior partners with significant recognition from clients and peers in the market and key roles on multiple matters.
With multifaceted skill across public and private mergers and acquisitions, securities law and corporate governance, Adrienne is a longstanding advisor to clients in executing their transactional, capital raising and other activities. Adrienne works closely with some of Canada’s largest companies and institutional investors in their capital markets, securities law and corporate governance matters. With deep experience in both public and private M&A, Adrienne frequently acts for bidders and targets in both negotiated and contested transactions. She also provides ongoing advice to companies, directors and shareholders on corporate governance and securities compliance matters. Adrienne also supports both issuers and investment banks in a variety of public offerings.
Linda's practice focuses on the areas of corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance and investment funds. She advises on general corporate matters, public and private offering transactions, disclosure requirements and corporate governance matters. Linda has acted for public and private companies, underwriters, institutional and strategic investors and investment dealers in a wide range of industry sectors, including mining, agriculture, retail, financial services, technology, cannabis and renewable energy. Prior to joining Blakes, Linda practised in the Toronto office of another national firm, providing corporate and securities law advice, and completed a secondment with the Ontario Securities Commission. Linda also speaks Mandarin Chinese.
Leading individuals
The strongest partners in their field, leading on market-leading deals and endorsed by peers and clients alike.
David practices primarily in the areas of mergers and acquisitions, corporate and commercial and corporate finance and securities law. David has extensive experience focused on advising private and public company clients on transactional and corporate commercial matters, corporate reorganizations and restructurings, as well as corporate governance issues. He works with clients at all stages of development, from senior public companies to startups and entrepreneurs, and represents clients across a variety of industries, particularly forestry, services and technology.
Across domestic and international corporate and capital markets transactions, Mike’s deep deal experience, technical insights and strategic acumen guide organizations through their most significant and complex transactions. Mike is co-head of Torys’ M&A practice and regularly leads complex transactions, both international and domestic, combining broad experience with creativity and a practical approach to solving problems and effectively closing deals. Mike’s extensive experience across corporate transactions includes mergers and acquisitions, strategic investments, securities offerings and IPOs, private equity transactions, joint ventures and royalty and streaming transactions. He also regularly advises on corporate governance and securities law matters. With over 20 years of M&A and capital markets experience, Mike has played key roles in significant transactions involving leading companies such as CN Rail, NFI Group, Bombardier, Stelco Holdings, the Aditya Birla Group, China Investment Corp. and many of the leading domestic and international investment banks. As a Canadian and U.S. qualified lawyer having practiced for a number of years in the firm’s New York office, Mike also brings broad international experience to his practice. He is also one of the key partners involved in Torys’ work with Chinese clients. With deep industry experience in mining and metals, Michael has acted on a wide variety of matters for clients including Franco-Nevada, Inmet Mining, Pala Investments, Nevada Copper, Americas Gold & Silver, Imperial Metals, McEwen Mining, Zijin Mining, CPP Investments, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board, BaseCore Metals and many of the leading domestic and international investment banks.
Recent experience acting as lead counsel includes: friendly and hostile mergers and acquisitions involving public and private companies (both domestic and cross-border); debt restructurings; going-private transactions; proxy contests for control; initial public offerings; other public and private equity financings; all aspects of private equity M&A; royalty trust acquisitions and restructurings; and acting as general counsel and strategic advisor to management teams and their Boards.
Ross specializes in merger and acquisition and capital markets transactions with extensive experience advising acquirors and targets in domestic and cross-border take-over bids, plans of arrangement and mergers. He regularly advises issuers and dealers in equity and debt capital markets transactions and has extensive experience in a wide variety of transaction structures and products, including project financing and offerings of investment grade, subordinated, and high-yield debt. He also assists issuers in establishing shelf financing programs both for domestic offerings as well as cross-border offerings under the Canada/US multi-jurisdictional offering system. He advises issuers, underwriters and selling shareholders on capital markets transactions in the pipeline and energy infrastructure, agribusiness, airline, energy services, oil and gas exploration, chartered bank and railroad sectors. He advises on shareholder activism situations and has acted for several issuers on high profile proxy contests. He regularly advises issuers in connection with corporate governance requirements, continuous and timely disclosure obligations, stock exchange matters and general corporate matters. Ross has experience advising clients on ESG matters, including in respect of corporate governance and compliance, disclosure, and sustainable finance.
Michael regularly advises on many of Canada’s highest-profile merger and acquisition transactions as well as numerous middle market M&A transactions. He acts for strategic and financial buyers, targets and significant shareholders on negotiated and unsolicited domestic and cross-border acquisition transactions. Michael also has experience representing special committees in connection with M&A transactions, related party transactions and internal investigations. Michael is the former head of Blakes Toronto Capital Markets practice and one of the co-founders of Blakes New York office.
Practice focuses on securities and corporate law, concentrating on mergers and acquisitions, private equity, corporate governance and public financings, both domestic and cross-border.
Partner. Co-head of the firm’s national Private Equity Group. Focuses on M&A, private equity and investment funds. Advises on domestic and cross-border public/private M&A and other securities matters. Represents institutional investors in their investment activities, including acquisitions and divestitures of portfolio companies and investments in private equity, other alternative investment funds and fund formation. Acted for Vista Equity Partners in its C$4.8 billion acquisition of DH Corporation and the combination of D+H with Vista portfolio company Misys, creating “Finastra”, a new global fintech leader. Presents at various conferences on corporate/securities law.
With a track record helping domestic and multinational organizations execute investments in Canada and around the world, Janan is a leading corporate lawyer advising clients on their M&A and capital markets transactions. Janan’s practice focuses on corporate and securities law, with an emphasis on international transactions. He has an efficient, practical approach that comes from an extensive background of experience representing public and private issuers in a wide variety of financing, business combination and public and private M&A transactions. Janan also regularly counsels clients across sectors on their securities compliance matters, commercial transactions, and corporate finance, procedures and governance. Janan is the co-leader of Torys’ Diversity & Inclusion Committee.
Jonathan See is a partner in the firm’s Business Law Group in Toronto and Co-Head of the national M&A Group and Private Equity Group. Recognized for his client-centric approach, Jonathan is one of Canada’s most well-known M&A lawyers acting for sponsors, private equity, alternative investment funds, strategics, and investment banks on a wide range of domestic and cross-border transactions across a wide range of industries. Jonathan is also recognized by Legal 500 and IFLR as a leading lawyer in Corporate M&A, and by a number of noteworthy publications in the areas of infrastructure & energy, private equity, corporate/commercial, and investment funds and banking.
David’s practice is focused on mergers and acquisitions and public company advice. David has advised many Canadian and international businesses on acquisition, divestiture and reorganisation transactions. David regularly advises public companies and their boards of directors on major transactions and governance matters. He has significant experience in capital markets matters, having acted for issuers and investment dealers in a wide variety of cross-border and domestic public offerings and private placements. David has experience across a broad range of industries, including financial services, natural resources, technology, manufacturing, consumer products and telecommunications.