Biography: Environment

Mark Madras is a partner in Gowlings' Toronto office, specialising in the practice of environmental law. He is the head of the firm's real estate, environment and urban development department for the Toronto office.

Mark has over 35 years of practice experience, and is certified as specialist in environmental law by the Law Society of Upper Canada.

Recognised as one of Canada's leading environmental lawyers, Mark counsels clients with respect to a variety of environmental regulation and liability concerns, including climate law; new substance regulation; toxic and hazardous chemical regulation; contaminated lands; air and water emissions; dangerous goods transportation; waste management; facility auditing; environmental reporting; emergency preparedness and response; environmental issues in commercial transactions; and corporate as well as officer and director environmental compliance concerns.

Mark has been counsel on a large number of complex contaminated lands disputes. He has advised manufacturing and chemical industry clients on plant decommissionings across Canada. Mark has represented numerous companies in the transportation sector, ranging from highway carriers to marine terminals, on environmental compliance issues in national and international operations. He has advised both corporate and industry association clients on proposed changes to environmental regulation on subjects as diverse as chemical regulation, toxic substance designations and climate law, and has represented them on submissions to government and government agencies.

Mark has been called upon as counsel in several high-profile environmental emergency situations and their aftermath, including emergency response, site remediation, government investigations, orders and prosecutions. He is counsel to clients in the nuclear sector on compliance and regulatory issues, and was lead counsel on the first decommissioning in Canada of a nuclear reactor. He was also a contributor to the work of the Canadian Nuclear Waste Management Organization.

In the area of climate law, Mark has been counsel on several carbon transactions domestically and internationally. His practice entails ongoing advice to clients concerning emerging climate law regulatory regimes in Canada as well as current carbon markets and carbon finance opportunities.

Mark is accredited by the Arbitration and Mediation Institute of Canada Inc as an arbitrator, and has been trained as a mediator. He serves as a member of the Canadian Centre for Environmental Arbitration and Mediation, for the conduct of environmental arbitrations and mediations.

Mark has been listed as leading lawyer in several legal industry publications, including The International Who's Who of Business Lawyers, Who's Who Legal: Canada, PLC Which Lawyer? Yearbook, Best Lawyers in Canada, Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory, The International Who's Who of Environment Lawyers and LawDay.

Mark is a frequent speaker and writer on environmental law matters and has appeared at numerous privately organised continuing education conferences and industry association gatherings, as well as client and law firm sponsored information forums. He has written and spoken on a wide range of environmental topics, including nuclear waste management, corporate environmental reporting, Kyoto implementation and carbon markets, contaminated lands management, industrial site decommissioning, environmental auditing, and current trends in environmental law and regulation.