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Corporate Governance
- Acted for investors in developing due diligence and ESG programs tailored to their investment strategies and investor preferences
- Acted for clients in various sectors in the development and implementation of programs for supply chain issues, environment and ESG
- Acted for boards of directors on corporate governance issues relating to environmental matters
- Advised public companies on strategies relating to shareholder activism and ESG issues
- Advised both private and public companies on developing greenwashing risks
- Advised companies and boards on crisis planning, responses and management
- Advise companies and boards on voluntary and mandatory disclosures, due diligence and risk mitigation
Environment
- Acted for a client in the defence and resolution of a class action related to the Lac Mégantic derailment in Québec
- Acted for a client in the defence and resolution of investigations related to the Lac Mégantic derailment
- Successfully negotiated agreements with regulators across several jurisdictions in Canada and the United States limiting environmental liability for businesses in various sectors
- Negotiated hundreds of successful transactions requiring protective measures relating to environmental issues in multiple jurisdictions and various sectors
- Advised on environmental assessments for decades in multiple jurisdictions and under various changing regimes
- Acted for a client in developing a strategy to deal with regulators on significant environmental issues from British Columbia to Québec
- Acted for a client in managing regulatory issues on more than 600 sites in several provinces, including successfully negotiating with regulators in many provinces
- Acted for clients in obtaining approval for remediation of former industrial sites and for the changes in use of sites adjacent to residential developments
- Acted for a client in successfully negotiating an innovative and cost-effective approach to onsite remediation of a large contaminated industrial site after the regulator ordered the company to “dig and haul away”
- Acted for Global Container Terminals in its proposed development of Deltaport Expansion Berth 4
- Acted for lenders in the realization of the assets of indebted polluters and in negotiating agreements with the regulators, limiting the lenders’ liability
- Acted for manufacturers, pulp and paper mills operators, oil companies and clients in other industrial sectors in defending claims relating to environmental issues arising out of purchase and sale agreements involving sites in, among other places, Ontario, Manitoba, Québec and Italy; and in dealing with environmental issues
- Acted for clients as part of the strategic teams defending class actions relating to incidents in various sectors
- Acted for clients in more than one province in preparing for regulatory inspections and investigations, strategizing during and after regulatory investigations, and defending investigations
- Acted for clients in successfully settling civil litigation cases dealing with contaminated sites
- Acted for clients on emerging environmental issues and in the development of corporate strategies to integrate the requirements of both Canadian and US laws
- Acted for clients on integrating compliance with the requirements of Canadian and US laws relating to specific emissions
- Acted for clients on the implementation of their environmental management systems in Canada and the United States
- Acted for clients in successfully persuading the regulator to consider an addition to an existing industrial facility as a change in process, which received the regulator’s written approval as opposed to a development requiring a licensing process
- Acted for clients in successfully persuading the regulator to enter into innovative agreements to effectively limit the liability of purchasers and lenders of industrial and commercial operations, which allowed commercial transactions to proceed
- Acted for clients in successfully persuading the regulator to not prosecute a company and its directors after the company was accused of dumping dangerous goods
- Acted for clients in successfully persuading the regulator to reverse its decision of not granting a licence to a waste disposal operation
- Acted for clients in successfully persuading the regulator to withdraw administrative orders issued relating to contaminated sites and their remediation
- Acted for industrial operators, owners and occupiers in the defence and resolution of civil litigation cases dealing with contaminated sites in various provinces in Canada
- Acted for industry on federal and provincial environmental assessment issues in the context of resource development
- Acted for issuers of bonds and equity on environmental disclosure issues
- Acted for purchasers or vendors in various sectors (agriculture, brownfields redevelopment, chemical companies, energy, manufacturing, mining, oil and gas, port operations, forestry, pulp and paper, shipbuilding, transportation, waste, waste management and wind power) on significant commercial transactions and regulatory issues in all Canadian provinces and the United States
- Acted for clients in various sectors on climate change considerations in the context of commercial transactions
- Acted for issuers and underwriters in climate change disclosure issues
- Acted for clients in different industrial sectors in the development of corporate strategies on climate change
- Acted for a company and its director in the successful defence of a quasi-criminal prosecution by making a preliminary motion for dismissal on the basis that the environmental officer’s notes were not available to the defence
Indigenous
- Acted for a First Nation in Ontario in its negotiations with a mining company arising out of the development of a mining project
- Acted for a First Nation in Québec on self-government issues, including appearance and obtaining court orders at the Federal Court
- Acted for a government on behalf of various First Nations as a lead counsel in the defence of a multi-million-dollar arbitration dealing with, among others, environmental and Indigenous issues and impacts of a project
- Acted for a soil treatment facility proponent in managing environmental assessment and Indigenous issues
- Acted for a utility relating to hydroelectric mitigation projects that required federal and provincial environmental assessments and consultation with First Nations and related agencies
- Acted for clients in project development and approval, including with various levels of government and Indigenous communities
- Acted for clients in the defence and settlement of complex environmental issues, including claims for stigma, remediation, and migration of contamination to neighbouring properties
- Acted for industry on Indigenous issues and duty to consult concerning specific projects
