Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP continues to be a dominant player in the practice area, utilizing the bench strength of national offices in Toronto, Calgary, Vancouver, Montreal and Ottawa and abroad in London and New York, to advise a broad client base (which includes Royal Bank of Canada and Sycamore Partners Management) of domestic and international institutional and private entities, developers, banks, pension funds, fund managers, insurance companies, REITs, retail and commercial property owners and occupiers, hotel owners and government agencies, on diverse spectrum of real estate matters. The practice, which is particularly dynamic in the retail and financial services spaces, is led in Toronto by Thomas Von Hahn, who brings expertise to the acquisition and disposition of real property and mortgage portfolios, and John Hutmacher, who draws on extensive experience advising clients on acquisitions and dispositions, joint ventures, sales and leaseback transactions. Other key figures include Silvana D’Alimonte, who specializes in complex financings involving investors, fund managers and asset managers; Daniel Kofman, who acts as real estate lead on multi-billion-dollar acquisitions in the financial services sector; and Garth Anderson in Calgary, who draws on over 25 years in the real estate arena to counsel life insurance companies, REITs and utility companies. Unless noted, all lawyers mentioned work in the Toronto office.
