Practices
Paul is our senior banking lawyer. He has over 30 years of experience in acting for both domestic and foreign banks and other financial institutions, as well as for our corporate clients, in transactions involving operating and term credit facilities, guarantees, project finance, financial derivatives, private placements of notes in the U.S. and Canadian markets, letters of credit, equipment leasing and security on both real and personal property. A frequent lecturer on topics relating to lending, security and legal opinions, Paul is generally recognized within both the profession and the business community as a leading authority on such matters. He is the only British Columbia lawyer to be a Fellow of the American College of Investment Counsel, an organization for the study of legal issues relating to significant institutional investment financings (private placements of debt, project financings, asset-backed and other structured financings, etc.).
Recognition and Ranking
- Martindale-Hubbell International Law Directory: BV Peer Review rated
- Lexpert Leading 500 Lawyers in Canada: recognized for banking & financial institutions
- Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory: most frequently recognized as a Leading Practitioner for banking law
- Lexpert Leading US/Canada Cross-Border Corporate Lawyers in Canada: recognized for banking and financial institutions
- Best Lawyers in Canada: recognized for banking law
Professional Activities
- Canadian Bar Association (B.C. Branch) Banking Law Section, Former Chair
- American College of Investment Counsel, Fellow
- Solicitors’ Legal Opinions Committee, Member
Bar Admissions
- British Columbia (1975)
Education
- University of British Columbia (LL.B., 1974)
Representative transactions include:
Credit Facilities
- Acting for forest products companies in negotiating both secured and unsecured committed revolving credit facilities of $330,000,000 and $755,000,000
- Acting for a syndicate of Canadian banks in providing $75,000,000 term revolving facility to income trust
Project Finance
- Acting for a joint venture in negotiation of a $290,000,000 financing for a hydrogen manufacturing plant in Alberta
- Negotiation of financing and other related agreements with respect to the development of a copper mine in Mexico
- Acting for a syndicate of Canadian banks with respect to financing aggregating $120,000,000 for oriented strandboard mill
Private Placements of Debt
- Acting for a forest products company in negotiating note issuances aggregating US$235,000,000
- Acting for a subsidiary of managed pension funds with respect to issue of medium-term notes aggregating $300,000,000
Public Private Partnerships
- Acting for a consortium entering into a project agreement for the design, construction, finance, operation and maintenance of an academic ambulatory care centre in Vancouver, being the first large-scale public private partnership in the healthcare sector in British Columbia
- Acting for a consortium in connection with the construction, finance and operation of a cancer centre in Abbotsford, British Columbia
Swaps and Derivatives
- Acting for a variety of clients in drafting forms of and negotiating swap, derivative and other similar (e.g. securities repurchase agreements) agreements, both in ISDA formats and otherwise, for interest rate, currency, securities and commodities swap transactions
Restructuring
- Acting for a pulp and paper producer in the restructuring of its bank and other debt
Author of numerous papers for Continuing Legal Education, Insight, Pacific Business and Law Institute, etc. on topics such as Personal Property Security Act, acting for commercial lenders, legal opinions in lending transactions, taking security on intellectual property and letters of credit.
