Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP

Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP remains a market leader, leveraging the bench strength of offices in Toronto, Montreal and New York with the experience of its team to advise major public and private companies, pension funds, private equity firms and financial sponsors involved in high-value, cross-border transactions. Acting for such key market players as the Barrick Gold Corporation and the Blackstone Group, the practice’s broad client roster covers such sectors as telecoms, real estate, mining, forestry, tech, life sciences and media. The group is led in Toronto by transactional authority Vincent Mercier, who brings experience to assisting bidders, target boards and special committees, including on proxy contests; mining industry specialist Melanie Shishler, who handles public company M&A, private asset acquisitions and dispositions, and complex private equity investment transactions; and in Montreal by Franziska Ruf, who handles complex M&A, private equity, corporate governance, capital markets and securities matters; and Elliot Greenstone, a specialist in real estate and life sciences sector matters. In Toronto, Patricia Olasker brings expertise to matters involving friendly and unsolicited M&A and shareholder activism; Aaron Atkinson specializes in major transactions, along with Brett Seifred, who acts for clients across such industries as telecoms, food services and entertainment.