The lawyers in our Business Practices Group provide expertise in the following areas:

Corporate

• Business structures, including corporations, partnerships, joint ventures
• Directors' meetings, annual meetings and other corporate proceedings
• Shareholder, partnership and joint-venture agreements
• Governance arrangements, policies and committee charters
• Reorganizations, amalgamations, dissolutions
• Corporate records
• Shareholder disputes

Private Equity

• Letters of intent, non-disclosure agreements, brokerage agreements
• Acquisition, shareholder and registration rights agreements
• Option, partnership and joint venture agreements
• Private equity funds and fund investment vehicles
• Employment agreements and policies
• Executive contracts and incentive arrangements
• Private employee stock plans
• Taxation advice, including deal structuring, wealth management and cross-border taxation issues
• Offering documentation and subscription agreements
• Convertible debt, mezzanine financing arrangements, secured debt and security arrangements
• Mergers, acquisitions, divestitures
• Leveraged buy-outs, management buy-out

Commercial

• Commercial contracts
• Computer and technology-related contracts
• Competition and trade practice matters
• Advising family-owned businesses
• Privacy law issues
• Franchise issues

Financing

• Financing of equipment, receivables, technology and intellectual property
• Realizations and enforcement of security
• Work-out arrangements
• Public-private partnerships, joint ventures and agency relationships

Fundraising

• Donors and their advisors
• Fundraising agreements, activities and campaigns including charitable gaming and capital campaigns
• Security for loans
• Asset-backed securities

International Business Transactions

• Cross-border licensing and distribution agreements
• Cross-border investments, international joint ventures, partnerships and agency arrangements
• Export controls
• International supply and distribution contracts
• Compliance with the Investment Canada Act

Securities

• Public offerings, equity, debt financing, private placements and limited partnership offerings
• Corporate governance compliance
• Mergers and acquisitions of public and private companies, take-over bids, amalgamations, plans of arrangement and going private transactions
• Stock option plans, dividend retirement plans and other public company incentive structures
• Compliance with the Ontario Securities Act
• Regulatory approvals and relief
• Stock exchange listings

Public Contract Law

• Procurement contracts
• Public-private sector alliance contracts
• General government relations
• Advising on specific policies, statutes, regulations and contract provisions unique to government procurement
• Ethics rules in the procurement process
• Claims against government bodies with respect to government contracts
• Compliance issues under the Defence Production Act (Canada)