​15 Blakes Lawyers Join Firm Partnership

TORONTO (January 25, 2019) – Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP (Blakes), one of Canada’s leading business law firms, has announced the addition of 15 new partners.

“I congratulate each of our new partners on reaching a significant career milestone and welcome them all into the Blakes partnership,” said Rob Granatstein, Firm Managing Partner of Blakes. “Their hard work and dedication to meeting the needs of our clients demonstrate a deep commitment to providing the highest standards of legal advice and client service.”

The Blakes Litigation & Dispute Resolution group welcomes three new partners: Simon Seida in Montréal, and Kiran Patel and Max Shapiro in Toronto. They cover various aspects of commercial litigation, including class actions, competition, securities and financial matters, restructuring, and complex corporate/commercial disputes as well as domestic and international commercial arbitrations.

The Blakes Financial Services group also welcomes three new partners: Adam Jackson in Toronto, Drew Campbell in Calgary and Jake Switzer in Vancouver. They have a broad range of experience in debt financing, corporate finance, project finance, financial restructurings, cross-border acquisitions and financing, structured finance transactions and asset-based financings.

Theresa Chan, Megan Shaw and Pei Li also join as new partners in the Toronto office. Theresa is a corporate lawyer who specializes in procurement within the infrastructure/P3 industry. Megan advises on all aspects of corporate and commercial matters, including mergers and acquisitions, franchising and distribution arrangements, pension fund investments and divestitures. Pei’s practice focuses on food, health, cosmetic and consumer products, and the labelling, marketing and advertising of these and other regulated products.

In Calgary, Paul Blyschak and Jay Geers join as new partners. Paul is a corporate lawyer specializing in domestic and international transactions in the oil and gas industry as well as in the LNG, power and resources sectors. Jay is a commercial real estate lawyer advising clients on a variety of real property matters, including purchase and sale transactions involving office, industrial and retail properties, mortgage financing, and development and planning matters.

In Vancouver, Arash Amouzgar joins our partnership in the Corporate & Commercial group. Arash primarily focuses on mergers and acquisitions and private equity in the food, beverage and agribusiness, retail, health-care, transportation, financial services, and information technology sectors.

Jean Tessier, Joanna Myszka and Julia Qian Wang join the partnership in the Montréal office. Jean is a corporate lawyer specializing in public and private financings, M&A and securities regulatory compliance matters. Joanna advises companies on a wide range of commercial transactions involving information technology and intellectual property, including relating to the acquisition, licensing, development and disposition of intellectual property assets. Julia is a tax lawyer with a particular focus on domestic and cross-border M&A, corporate reorganizations, investment funds, tax planning and tax litigation.

About Blakes
At Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP (Blakes), we serve a diverse national and international client base, and our integrated office network provides clients with access to the Firm's full spectrum of capabilities in virtually every area of business law. Blakes has offices across Canada, New York, and in London.Thanks to our clients, Blakes was ranked as having the leading law firm brand in Acritas’ Canadian Law Firm Index 2018. This is the third time we have received this recognition. In 2018, we were named Canada Law Firm of the Year for the 10th consecutive year in the Who’s Who Legal Awards and Corporate Law Firm of the Year in the 2019 edition of Chambers Canada: Canada’s Leading Lawyers for Business. Blakes was also named one of Canada’s Best Diversity Employers by Mediacorp Canada Inc. for the eighth time.

More information on Blakes is available by visiting the Firm's website at www.blakes.com or by following us on Twitter @BlakesLaw.