Roundup of law firm hires, promotions, departures: March 27, 2023 update

Seven firms made new announcements

Roundup of law firm hires, promotions, departures: March 27, 2023 update

Welcome to this week’s roundup of movements among major law firms, in which we sum up significant hires, promotions, departures, and other announcements.

Dickinson Wright LLP

Matthew McLeod has joined the firm's Toronto office as of counsel. McLeod practises corporate and commercial law. He has advised clients on mergers and acquisitions, organizing and structuring new and existing corporations, partnerships, joint ventures and other corporate governance documents. He also worked as an executive in the cannabis industry, working for private and public companies in federally regulated cannabis production and provincially regulated cannabis retails.

DLA Piper (Canada) LLP

Elise Cartier has returned to the firm as an associate of the firm's Calgary office's litigation, arbitration, and investigations group. Cartier practises general civil litigation, encompassing commercial litigation, tort law, product liability, employment law, and disputes related to Alberta's electricity industry. Cartier has advised clients in the education, energy, power, transportation and aviation sectors and has appeared before all levels of court in Alberta, arbitration hearings, administrative tribunals, mediations, and settlement negotiations.

Goodmans LLP

Goodmans welcomed Joanna Rosengarten as counsel in the firm's environmental group. Rosengarten practice covers corporate transactions, large projects involving environmental issues, defence of environmental prosecutions, climate change, ESG, and energy law. She had advised clients on compliance with environmental legislation, problems of environmental permitting, federal and provincial environmental assessments, environmental liability, and the rehabilitation and redevelopment of contaminated sites.

Gowling WLG (Canada) LLP

The firm has announced the appointment of Toronto partner Jennifer King and Ottawa partner Matthew Estabrooks as the new co-leaders of the firm's administrative law group in Canada.

King's public law and regulatory practice encompasses environmental law, climate change, constitutional law, public health, land use and municipal law, and Indigenous rights. Estabrooks has experience representing clients before the Supreme Court of Canada. He has also advised clients on complex copyright matters and railway regulatory cases before the Canadian Transportation Agency.

McCarthy Tétrault LLP

Senior tax practitioner Len Nesbitt has joined the firm as a partner in its national tax group based in Toronto. Nesbitt is an experienced legal advisor in the taxation of capital markets transactions, complex financial instruments, and the taxation of financial institutions. He has extensive experience advising banks and broker-dealers on client-facing capital markets transactions and hedging strategies. He has also acted as a tax advisor on numerous deals for issuers and underwriters related to equity and debt offerings by banks and insurers.

Mintz

US law firm Mintz has announced its expansion into Canada with the opening of an office in Toronto. The founding members of the firm’s Canadian office are Michael Akkawi, Eric Foster, Mitch Frazer, Lee Johnson and Cheryl Reicin.

Akkawi, Frazer, and Reicin previously worked with Torys LLP, leading the firm’s private equity and fund formation, pensions and employment, and life sciences practices, respectively. Foster served as the head of Dentons’ Canadian Cannabis practice. Johnson joined from the New York and San Diego offices of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati.

Frazer commented, “Canadian companies and investors are increasingly looking to the US, and we are excited to be plugging into a platform and business network that will be beneficial to our clients.”

Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP

Osler’s has welcomed Vivek Warrier as a partner in the firm's energy group based in Calgary. Warrier's practice focuses on infrastructure project development, commercial matters, structuring, equity participations and private mergers and acquisitions for clients in all segments of the energy sector. He serves as vice president of the Canadian Energy Law Foundation's board of directors and vice chair (programs) of the American Bar Association's International Energy and Environmental Law committee. He has also taught oil and gas contracts at the University of Calgary Faculty of Law.

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