Biography: Insolvency & Restructuring

Bob is widely acknowledged as one of the foremost insolvency practitioners in Canada and is a founding partner of TGF. Euromoney's Best of the Best 2010 lists Bob as one of the top six insolvency and restructuring lawyers in Canada. Bob is also recognised as a band 1 leading individual in restructuring/insolvency by Chambers Global 2010, in which he is lauded as "a leading light" and "pound for pound one of the top lawyers in town." Euromoney's Legal Media Group named Bob a leading expert in 2010, describing him as "exceptional" and "the most innovative in the field". Bob is also listed as "most frequently recommended in insolvency and financial restructuring" in the Lexpert/American Lawyer Guide Leading 500 Lawyers in Canada in 2010.

Representative work includes: counsel to Ernst & Young, court-appointed monitor in the restructuring of the Canadian AbitibiBowater entities, one of the world's largest publicly traded pulp and paper manufacturers; acting as lead restructuring counsel to Hollinger Inc in the wind-up and resolution of Hollinger and its subsidiaries, with extensive involvement in the company's pursuit of litigation claims; representing specialty paper company Fraser Papers Inc and its subsidiaries in CCAA restructuring proceeding; acting on behalf of a committee of contesting bondholders in the BCE reorganisation, which involved the world's largest leveraged buy-out with an enterprise value of $52 billion; counsel to the Monitor of tobacco company JTI Macdonald until its successful emergence from the CCAA; acting on behalf of GE Capital Aviation Services, Inc, a principal stakeholder in the Air Canada CCAA proceedings; counsel to a major bondholder in the CCAA restructuring of Calpine and its subsidiaries, a global integrated power company; and representing the court-appointed monitor Ernst & Young in the restructuring of Stelco, one of the most significant CCAA restructurings in Canadian history.

Bob is a member of the Insolvency Institute of Canada, INSOL International, the Advocates' Society, the Toronto Lawyers' Association, the Canadian Bar Association, the American Bankruptcy Institute, the Turnaround Management Association, the Canadian Insolvency Foundation and the Ontario Bar Association, insolvency section.

He graduated with a BSc (hons) in 1979 and an LLB (with distinction) in 1982, both from the University of Western Ontario. He was called to the Bar of Ontario in 1984.

Recent publications and presentations include: "Hitting the Hot Spots, Troubleshooting and Trends" in Insolvency and Restructuring: A Coast to Coast Update (2nd Western Canada Advanced Forum, September 2009); "Optionality in Private Equity Financing of Insolvency Restructurings" (5th Annual Review of Insolvency Law Conference, February 2008); and "Getting a Handle on Negotiated, Court-Ordered and Statutory Subordinations and Super Priorities" (Canadian Institute, January 2008).