Business Law

Consilium Counsel has acquired, in 46 years of practice, extensive experience in almost every aspect of business law in Canada and involving corporate and commercial transactions both domestically and internationally.

Banking & Finance

Much of Consilium Counsel’s experience in business law includes finance related matters and financial transactions, both large and small, representing banks and other financial institutions, corporations, entrepreneurs, individuals, pension funds and others. Many were what were then early stage (and now common and standardized) such as interest rate swaps, mortgage securitizations, loans to unincorporated partnerships of corporations, public-private partnerships, etc. 

As finance evolves to meet the ever-changing needs of businesses, learnings from past creative experiences will be valuable.

Conflicts of Interest

Consilium Counsel’s primary market consists of law firms and lawyers with business law practices. With this focus in mind, where law firms and lawyers face an existing or potential conflict of interest with one or more clients, Consilium Counsel’s experience and problem-solving reputation may prove very useful. Whether referring the entire matter, obtaining a second opinion, arranging for independent counsel to ‘ride shotgun’ on segments of a transaction, referring clients to Consilium Counsel to act as independent, third-party counsel on a matter may serve the best interests of such clients while entrusting them to counsel whose practice and business model preserve its neutrality and independence in the marketplace.

Dispute Prevention

Alternate dispute resolution (“ADR”) is an area of practice with origins tracing back to 1800 B.C. in the Mari Kingdom (in modern Syria) and has been developing steadily for many decades as a desirable alternative method of resolving disputes involving parties located in and transacting in and across multiple jurisdictions. In recent years ADR is increasingly pursued as an alternative to litigating through the courts of law in local jurisdictions.

Consilium Counsel’s focus with respect to ADR and litigation is centered on preventing disputes or “pre-ADR” or “pre-litigation” dispute resolution. Law firms and lawyers often become aware or sensitive to potential disputes developing in their business law practices well in advance of the disputes becoming ‘hard-wired’, emotion overtaking reason and the commencement of proceedings. In these early-stage situations it may be appropriate and useful either to engage, or to refer one or more of the clients to, independent counsel to review the issues and advise in an effort to reach agreement. This approach to problem-solving often lessens the development of certain conflicts of interest arising in connection with the disputes.

While assisting earlier to prevent disputes is our focus, Consilium Counsel will also assist in commercial conciliation or mediation where needed.

Investor Governance

Consilium Counsel has considerable first-hand experience in establishing and managing governance arrangements among multiple investors, lenders, partners and shareholders, both institutional and individual, and related agreements. This experience has been acquired over many years through representation of such parties as legal counsel, as well as an asset manager and as a principal lead or participating investor in a variety of investments and financings. Consilium Counsel’s understanding of, and perspectives on, governance arrangements among investors, lenders, partners or shareholders may be quite helpful in structuring and negotiating same at the outset or managing same when issues develop, including restructurings or claims arising from performance. 

Multi-Jurisdictional

Consilium Counsel’s experience in multi-jurisdictional transactions in finance, infrastructure, mining, tax and planning, transportation and related investments and projects is substantial. This has led to the establishment of the Consilium Juris Collaboration Internationale, a panel of like-minded lawyers and expert professionals comprising complementary areas of specialized knowledge, skills and supporting networks of industry relationships. Participation in the Consilium Juris panel enables members to draw on one another and work together to better, and more completely, serve the interests of panel members’ clients on matters requiring certain useful knowledge, capabilities or geographic reach. Consilium Juris Collaboration Internationale will be formally launched in 2024.

Projects & PPPs

Consilium Counsel’s involvement in, and experience with, project financing in natural resource and infrastructure sectors is expansive, deep and rich dating back to the Trans Québec-Maritime Pipeline in the early 1980s and Lester B. Pearson International Airport development PPP in the late 1980s. Assistance and counsel which is provided today is drawn from decades of hands-on transactional and policy related experience both as a lawyer and as an institutional investor, including contributions to policy development and financing approaches, practices and structuring in a number of “first of-a-kind” corporate and project financings and infrastructure-related investments (eg. Canada’s first airport, courthouse, hospital and toll highway PPPs; Canada’s first diamond projects and first environmental agreements with resource developers, First Nations and relevant governmental authorities; infrastructure related privatizations and PPPs both in Canada and internationally in Europe and the Americas). Again here, Consilium Counsel will, where useful, draw upon both its experience and knowledge and that of other members of Consilium Juris Collaboration Internationale.