TORYS LLP
With offices in Toronto, Calgary and New York, Torys LLP is a leading North American law firm. This year it provides an impressive 34 lawyers across 18 practice areas for our publication.
Torys enjoys its strongest presence in the life sciences chapter, where five lawyers are included. Eileen McMahon and Conor McCourt co-chair the firm’s IP, food and drug regulatory group. McMahon advises large pharmaceutical companies on their regulatory requirements and intellectual property rights. McCourt is an “experienced and smart” lawyer. Cheryl Reicin is the head of the technology and life sciences practice and concentrates on biotechnology, medical devices and health and safety information. Ingrid VanderElst is “top notch for IP knowledge” and Andrew Shaughnessy is a “recognised” and highly praised lawyer. He also “very well known” for his patents work and earns a place in that chapter with Peter Wilcox who is recommended for his work in pharmaceutical and patented medicines.
The firm is well represented in both the corporate governance and the capital markets chapters. Richard Balfour, Peter Jewett and James Scarlett all feature in the governance chapter for their years of experience and are repeatedly recognised in our research. Balfour focuses on corporate and securities law as does Scarlett, the co-head of the firm’s mining group and an expert in governance and capital venture for listed natural resource companies. The “effective” Jewett also features in the capital markets and M&A chapters where he is joined by the “excellent” Sharon Geraghty, co-head of the M&A practice and a “world class” corporate lawyer.
In the commercial litigation chapter, Sheila Block is “one of the top at the firm” and James C Tory is experienced in appearing before all levels of Canada’s judiciary on commercial and corporate disputes. The coordinators of the firm’s tax practice, James Welkoff and John Unger, both earn a place in the corporate tax chapter for their highly specialised practices spanning over 25 years.
Peter Ballantyne is the head of the private equity and fund formation practice group. He advises sponsors and investors in the formation and negotiation of funds transactions. Patricia Koval is highly praised for her work in private funds, ETFs, REITs and M&A transactions for clients such as Hindalco Industries and Blue Ribbon Fund Management.
In the insolvency and restructuring chapter, Scott Bomhof acts for companies in restructurings, insolvencies, refinancings and many other areas and is an “obvious inclusion” in the chapter. Tony DeMarinis is the co-chair of the firm’s restructuring and insolvency practice. He primarily specialises in financial restructurings.
In the competition chapter, as the chair of the firm’s competition and antitrust practice, Jay Holsten is “very good on mergers” and is recommended by his peers, and Omar Wakil is “fabulous, very sharp on complex deals and has a lot of international experience”.
Daniel Logan and Gabor Takach represent the firm in the internet & e-commerce chapter and co-chair the firm’s business and technology sourcing practice. Logan practises with a particular emphasis on technology, outsourcing and e-commerce. Takach is an experienced lawyer who counts international software and computing companies among his client list.
Torys is a highly regarded law firm in a range of practice areas, also featuring lawyers in this year’s aviation, banking, environment, oil & gas, project finance and public procurement chapters.
