Geoff Belsher is the Managing Partner of the Firm's New York office and is one of the Partners responsible for the Firm's U.S. initiative.

Geoff practises in the area of corporate law with a focus on cross-border mergers and acquisitions and corporate finance. He has represented publicly traded companies listed on every stock exchange in North America. Geoff also advises a number of investment dealers, private equity funds and venture capital funds in both Canada and the United States with respect to public and private equity and debt financings for Canadian issuers. He has acted as special counsel to the target company in three of the highest profile hostile take-over bids, as well as some of the largest public offerings, in British Columbia history.

The following is a list of matters in which Geoff has acted:

• Lead Canadian counsel to P.H. Glatfelter Company on its C$250-million purchase of Concert Industries Corp. from Brookfield Asset Management Inc.
• Counsel to Suncor Energy Inc. on its announced C$43-billion strategic merger with Petro-Canada
• Lead Canadian counsel to Hub International Inc. in its US$1.8-billion sale to Apax Partners and Morgan Stanley Principal Investments
• Lead counsel to Stornoway Diamonds Corporation in its C$110-million successful unsolicited take-over bid for Ashton Mining
• Lead counsel to Kinross Gold Corporation in its C$2-billion three-way merger with Echo Bay Mines and TVX Gold Inc.
• Lead counsel to the underwriters in connection with a C$500-million common share MJDS (multi-jurisdictional disclosure system) equity offering for Placer Dome Inc., which at the time was the largest gold equity offering ever completed
• Lead counsel to Winspear Diamonds Inc. in the defence of an unsolicited C$330-million take-over bid by DeBeers Canada
• Lead counsel to the underwriters in connection with the initial public offering and a number of subsequent offerings for Angiotech Pharmaceuticals Inc., including a C$340-million equity offering, which at the time was the largest equity offering ever completed by a Canadian pharmaceutical company
• Counsel to Arequipa Resources. Ltd. in the defence of an unsolicited C$1.1-billion take-over bid by Barrick Gold

Geoff became the Managing Partner of the Firm's New York office in February 2008. He opened the Chicago office in 2004 and, prior to that time, worked in the Vancouver office. He also worked in the Toronto office in the summer of 1989 before joining the Vancouver office in 1990. As part of his focus on cross-border transactions, he was seconded to a U.K. law firm in the fall of 1996.

Geoff is a member of the Firm's Executive Committee and was previously a member of the Firm's Partnership Committee.

Geoff has been ranked as one of the leading lawyers in Canada by a number of publications, including one of the most frequently recommended lawyers in Canada in the corporate finance and securities section of The Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory; one of the "40 Corporate Lawyers to Watch" in The 2007 Lexpert/American Lawyer Guide to the Leading 500 Lawyers in Canada; one of the top 40 lawyers in Canada under the age of 40 by Lexpert magazine in 2006 and 2004; one of the 50 most recommended lawyers in Canada in the areas of corporate finance, and mergers and acquisitions by PLC Which Lawyer? Yearbook; one of the most highly recommended lawyers in Canada in the area of debt capital markets by PLC Which Lawyer? Yearbook; one of the eight most recommended lawyers in Canada in the area of mining and natural resources by PLC Which Lawyer? Yearbook.

Geoff was an adjunct professor at the University of British Columbia Law School, where he taught advanced mergers and acquisitions from 1995 to 2004. He was also an instructor at Osgoode Hall Law School teaching in the national LL.M. in securities law program and currently is on the board of directors of the Osgoode Hall Law School Alumni Association. Geoff was the editor of the Lexis/Nexis British Columbia Business Corporations Act and Commentary and the editor for British Columbia for the Bowne Appeal International Securities Laws Handbook, and has written and spoken extensively in the area of mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance and cross-border transactions.

Geoff is an active member of the American Bar Association's Committee on Negotiated Acquisitions and is involved in a number of Canada-U.S. business associations.