Lexpert unveils Ontario's leading infrastructure lawyers via its comprehensive annual peer review. The full list of lawyers and law firms can be viewed in our practice area rankings list.
Infrastructure law encompasses infrastructure development and various areas of regulatory law impacting development projects — including municipal law and land use planning. Clients often require advice in the areas of procurement, alternative financing, corporate, construction, commercial and litigation considerations.
Mark W.S. Bain
Law firm: Torys LLP
Year called to the Bar: 1989
Mark W.S. Bain is a partner at Torys LLP, where he is also head of the public-private partnership practice and co-head of the infrastructure and energy practices. He represents sponsors, equity investors, lenders, arrangers and underwriters, contractors, service providers and public authorities. Bain has acted in more than 80 major transactions in the sectors of healthcare, power, telecom, education, justice, gaming, water and wastewater, pipelines, public records and urban redevelopment. He also currently serves as chair for the Canadian Council for Public-Private Partnerships and Canadian chair for the International Project Finance Association. He works at an international business law firm that prides itself on teamwork.
Read more about Torys LLP on cannabis sector regulation
Robert T. Bauer
Law firm: Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP
Year called to the Bar: 1976
Robert T. Bauer heads the commercial real estate and infrastructure practices at Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP, where he is also a senior partner. He boasts more than 40 years of expertise and industry knowledge on high-profile and business-critical commercial real estate development and infrastructure projects, public-private partnerships, project financing and joint venture work in Canada, the US, Europe and Asia. Bauer advises clients on transformative and landmark projects, including hospitals, casinos, cross-border rail tunnels, toll roads and airport developments. His firm specializes in high-stakes and complex business matters.
Chris Bennett
Law firm: Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP
Year called to the Bar: 2001
Chris Bennett is Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP’s national chair of its financial services group and head of finance team in Toronto. He is also a partner at the firm. Bennett has extensive experience in acting for domestic and international lenders, developers and other participants on complex project financings in many Canadian jurisdictions. He has led major transactions in several industries, including social infrastructure, transportation and renewable energy. Bennett has spoken and written extensively on matters relating to project finance and public-private partnerships. He has developed two courses on public-private partnerships at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law, where he has been an adjunct faculty member since 2007. His firm is one of the Canada’s leading business law firms.
Darryl J. Brown
Law firm: Gowling WLG
Year called to the Bar: 1990
Darryl J. Brown is a partner at Gowling WLG’s Toronto office. He devotes his practice to infrastructure, construction and real estate law. Brown is an expert in drafting and negotiating project agreements, construction and facility management contracts, preparing tender and bid materials, acquisition, sale and development of commercial properties, and real estate financing and leasing. He has acted as counsel in various Canadian and US public-private partnership projects, including the construction of LRTs, roads, bridges, detention centres, hospitals, schools, courthouses, central utility plants and cultural centres. Brown’s clients include government agencies, developers, equity providers, construction companies, subcontractors and operators. His firm specializes business law and employs more than 1,400 legal professionals globally.
Catherine Doyle
Law firm: Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP
Year called to the Bar: 2006
Catherine Doyle devotes her practice to project finance, infrastructure, public-private partnerships and structured finance law. She currently serves as a partner at Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP, an international business law firm. Doyle regularly advises on infrastructure projects, including in the transportation, social infrastructure, alternative energy, power and healthcare sectors. She has represented several financial institutions, including bond underwriters, institutional investors and Canadian and international banks, in the financing of infrastructure assets. Doyle boasts extensive experience in operating and term credit facilities, asset-based financings, lease financings and structured financial products. She is also an expert in structuring, negotiating and documenting domestic and cross-border financing transactions in the bank, private placement and bond markets.
Read more about Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP on cannabis sector litigation
Tobor Emakpor
Law firm: Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP
Year called to the Bar: 2008 (ON); 1994 (England & Wales)
Tobor Emakpor is a partner at Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP’s construction and infrastructure specialty group. He boasts several years of experience in advising on public-private partnerships and alternative financing procurement projects in Canada, the UK and West Africa, with a focus on the healthcare, education and transportation sectors. Emakpor is well-versed in mergers and acquisitions, private equity transactions, and joint-venture and partnering arrangements.
Brian C. Kelsall
Law firm: Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP
Year called to the Bar: 1982 (ON); 1985 (AB); 2005 (England & Wales)
Brian C. Kelsall is a partner at Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP, an international law firm with more than 700 lawyers and 10 offices worldwide. He specializes in corporate project finance, with a focus on domestic and international public-private partnerships and infrastructure development. Kelsall advises lenders, sponsors and investors on projects in the infrastructure, energy, telecom, oil and gas, mining and power sectors. He also has extensive banking law, securitization, and mergers and acquisitions experience.
Tara A. Mackay
Law firm: Torys LLP
Year called to the Bar: 2002
Tara A. Mackay is a partner at Torys LLP. She specializes in corporate and commercial transactions, with a focus on major capital projects, including public-private partnerships, and alternative financing and procurement projects. Mackay represents private developers, public authorities, lenders, construction contractors and service providers in all aspects of the implementation of large-scale infrastructure and similar projects.
Timothy J. Murphy
Law firm: McMillan LLP
Year called to the Bar: 1989
Timothy J. Murphy is an executive partner at McMillan LLP, where he assists consortia, lenders and governments in project financing major infrastructure assets across Canada. He has substantial experience in construction, energy and procurement. Murphy is also a managing director at McMillan Vantage Policy Group, a public policy advisory firm. He has previously served as chief of staff to Canada’s prime minister and was a member of the provincial parliament in the Ontario legislature. His firm is a full-service business law firm with offices across Canada’s commercial centres and in Hong Kong.
Read more about McMillan LLP on the agribusiness and cannabis sectors
Rocco M. Sebastiano
Law firm: Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP
Year called to the Bar: 1994
Rocco M. Sebastiano specializes in engineering, procurement and construction law, and infrastructure matters. His clients include owners, government authorities, developers, contractors, operators, lenders, architects and engineers. Sebastiano boasts extensive experience in public-private partnerships, privatizations and outsourcing of government services, procurements, project finance, major building, civil and public works design, engineering, construction, operation and maintenance for energy and infrastructure projects. His practice also includes contract negotiation with an emphasis on “preventative” structuring aimed at minimizing project risks and disputes. Sebastiano currently serves as a partner at Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP. He also is an experienced professional engineer.
Gregory G. Southam
Law firm: Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP
Year called to the Bar: 1998
Gregory G. Southam is a senior partner in the commercial real estate, infrastructure, corporate and capital markets practices at Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP. He has taken a lead role in some of the largest and most significant public-private partnership and infrastructure projects in Canada and the US, including transportation, social and urban renewal, and alternative energy asset classes. Southam has worked on some of Canada’s largest office development, construction and hospitality sector transactions. He also has significant experience in a variety of corporate and commercial matters, including share and asset acquisitions, construction matters, debt financings, gaming matters, leasing and acquisitions and dispositions of commercial real estate holdings.
Judy Wilson
Law firm: Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP
Year called to the Bar: 1985
Judy Wilson is a partner at Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP and has more than three decades of experience in dealing with commercial and procurement issues. She advises domestic and international clients on a range of infrastructure and public procurement matters. Wilson boasts extensive experience in contracts to engage the private sector in the provision of traditional government services. She has also led several private sector transactions in the areas of design-build-finance-maintain, operations and maintenance and facilities management of public-sector facilities, as well as the provision of clinical services in the community-care sector. Wilson also practices in the field of alternative finance and procurement projects and infrastructure development projects in various industries, including healthcare, transportation, nuclear energy and information technology systems.