Cassels

Canadian Corporate Law Firm

Senior Leadership

Zahra Nurmohamed

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Zahra Nurmohamed* is a partner of the Tax & Trusts Group at Cassels, serving as Co-Chair of the team and Chair of the firm’s Business Advisory Services Practice. An award-winning tax practitioner, Zahra offers 20 years of experience in Canadian corporate tax matters, including the structuring of mergers and acquisitions, as well as reorganizations and financings. With significant experience in the mining industry, Zahra offers niche expertise in resource taxation and an in-depth understanding of tax matters affecting Canadian businesses in a broad range of industries including telecommunications, manufacturing, and technology. She is a dedicated and collaborative community leader and is passionate about mentoring and fostering diverse and inclusive teams.

Zahra currently serves as co-editor-in-chief for Resource Sector Taxation, a journal devoted to tax issues of interest to the resource sector, and is a contributing writing to Canadian Resource Taxation, published by Thomson Reuters. She is also a past contributing writer for CCH Canadian Tax Reporter Commentary and writes and speaks on taxation issues of relevance to the mining industry.

Zahra was part of the 2009-2010 DiverseCity Nexus Co-hort and has taught at the University of Windsor’s Faculty of Law and Bar Admission Course. Prior to joining Cassels, Zahra served as Counsel, Tax Law and Senior Director, Professional Development at KPMG Law LLP.

*Services provided through a Professional Corporation

Jennifer Wasylyk

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Jennifer Wasylyk* serves as Deputy Managing Partner at Cassels and is a member of the firm’s Mining, Banking & Specialty Finance and Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG) Groups. Jennifer acts on behalf of both borrowers and lenders in a broad range of domestic and international corporate finance transactions. She has extensive experience structuring and negotiating secured and unsecured transactions, syndicated facilities, project finance facilities, asset-based lending transactions, streaming and prepay arrangements, other alternative finance structures and complex intercreditor arrangements. Jennifer has particular expertise in the natural resources field and regularly works with both lenders and resource companies in the mining sector. She has worked at the Ontario Energy Board, Canada Energy Regulator, and Alberta Energy Regulator. Jennifer has completed the Osgoode Certificate in Mining Law and the Osgoode Certificate in ESG, Climate Risk and the Law. Jennifer is recognized as a leader in her field by the Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory (Asset Equipment Finance/Leasing, Banking & Financial Institutions, Mining), IFLR1000 (Banking & Finance), and Best Lawyers in Canada (Banking and Finance Law). In 2023, Jennifer was named a Lexpert Rising Star, an award that celebrates Canada’s leading lawyers under 40.

Jennifer’s experience includes acting for:

  • Allied Gold Corp. in connection with its US$175 million gold stream in relation to the Kurmuk gold project in Ethiopia, its gold prepaid forward arrangements with various financial institutions, its credit facility with a syndicate of lenders, its US$53 million gold streams in relation to the Agbaou and Bonikro mines in Cote d’Ivoire, and its gold stream in relation to the Bonikro mine in Cote d’Ivoire
  • Artemis Gold Inc. in connection with its $385 million syndicated project financing facility and $40 million cost overrun facility, its $140 million master lease agreement, its US$141 million precious metal purchase agreement, and its US$190 million gold purchase and sale agreement, all in relation to the Blackwater project in British Columbia, Canada
  • Orla Mining Ltd. in connection with its US$125 million project finance facility in relation to the Camino Rojo oxide gold project in Zacatecas, Mexico, its US$150 million debt refinancing package, its US$250 million credit facility, its US$360 million gold prepaid forward arrangements with various commercial banks, and its US$200 million unsecured convertible notes
  • Marathon Gold Corporation in connection with its US$225 million project finance facility in relation to the Valentine gold project in Newfoundland in Labrador, Canada
  • Lundin Mining Corporation in connection with various transactions, including its US$648 million gold and silver stream in relation to the Candelaria mine in Chile, its US$1.75 billion revolving credit facility with a syndicate of commercial banks, and its US$800 million term loan with a syndicate of commercial banks
  • Calibre Mining Corp. in connection with various secured gold prepayment arrangements and its US$75 million private placement
  • Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. in connection with its US$2 billion sustainability-linked credit facility
  • Sandstorm Gold Ltd. in connection with its US$625 million sustainability-linked credit facility
  • Atlantic Gold Corporation in connection with its $115 million project finance facility, $20 million equipment finance facility and US$150 million revolving credit facility in relation to its Moose River consolidated project in Nova Scotia, Canada

Jennifer is the past Chair of the Executive Committee of the Ontario Bar Association’s Natural Resources and Energy Law Section and is also a member of Women in Mining. Jennifer was previously a sessional professor at Queen’s University Law School where she taught courses on commercial law and the Personal Property Security Act.

*Services provided through a Professional Corporation

Luke Woolford

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Luke Woolford* is a partner in the Business Law Group at Cassels and serves as Chair of the Corporate Commercial Practice. Luke’s practice focuses on corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions (including private equity portfolio acquisitions and strategic acquisitions), and general corporate and commercial law. He represents clients across a wide range of industries including manufacturing and industrial, retail, natural resources, medical devices and pharmaceuticals, information technology and media. Luke has experience advising private companies on corporate governance issues and a range of commercial matters including terms of supply for goods and services, distribution agreements, outsourcing services agreements, consulting and employment agreements, shareholders’ and partnership agreements, and sponsorship, celebrity endorsement and naming rights agreements. He also advises foreign companies regarding Canadian legal matters in connection with the establishment of businesses in Canada.

Examples of Luke’s work in these areas include representing:

  • A publicly-traded renewable energy generator in its merger with publicly traded competitors ($39 million; $32 million), related pre- and post-closing corporate restructurings, and the negotiation of a definitive agreement for its sale to a strategic competitor ($200 million)
  • A Canadian consumer packaged food products company’s sale to a US private equity firm ($120 million)
  • A Canadian private equity firm’s acquisition of a US cosmetics manufacturer ($35 million)
  • A US private equity firm in its acquisition of a Canadian medical transcription and document imaging services company ($13.5 million), and its acquisition of an industrial controls engineering company ($13 million)
  • A leading waste management company with respect to a private equity investment, its acquisition of regional complementary service providers ($10 million and $10 million) and the company’s sale to a primary competitor ($95 million)

Prior to attending law school, Luke worked as a case worker for a private non-profit corporation in Toronto that provided subsidized housing and support to clients with histories of homelessness and mental illness.

*Services provided through a Professional Corporation

Kristin Taylor

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Kristin Taylor (she/her/hers) serves as the firm’s Managing Partner and is a partner in the Employment & Labour Group. Kristin provides practical and strategic advice to employers on a wide range of employment matters including employee hiring, discipline and termination; severance packages; corporate restructuring; employment agreements and personnel policies; certification applications; privacy and AODA compliance; mergers & acquisitions and employment standards and human rights issues. Kristin regularly represents employers in court in wrongful dismissal actions, severance pay class actions, restrictive covenant disputes and injunctions; in grievance arbitrations, in collective bargaining and before various administrative tribunals, including the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario, and labour relations boards. She also conducts supervisory development and harassment prevention training to proactively prevent workplace disputes.

Kristin’s experience includes:

Kristin is a former Editor-in-Chief of the monthly CCH publication, Canadian Employment & Equality Rights, specializing in recent developments in human rights law. She authored the Employment Issues in a Sale of Business segment for the LexisNexis Practice Advisor Canada and the Employment Law Issues in Business Transactions chapter of the text New Perspectives on Canadian Employment Law. She is also a frequent presenter and contributor to firm’s publications on trends in employment law, with a particular focus on issues faced by Ontario employers.

Chuck Rich

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Charles (Chuck) Rich* is a partner in the Banking & Specialty Finance Group at Cassels, serves as Chair of the firm’s Financial Services Practice, and is a member of the firm’s top-ranked Cannabis Group. Chuck’s practice focuses on secured and unsecured loan transactions and debt restructurings. He offers expertise in corporate and commercial lending, including syndicated financings, acquisition financing, leveraged buyouts, asset-based lending, subordinate debt/first lien/second lien financings, cross-border transactions, receivables financing, special project financings (including trusts, partnership and limited partnerships), scientific research, and experimental development financing, as well as debt liability management transactions. Chuck acts for domestic banks, corporations, financial sponsors, and family offices, as well as many foreign financial institutions. In addition, he acts as Canadian Counsel to numerous foreign law firms. Chuck’s practice also includes security enforcement, workouts, and insolvency/debt restructurings for financial institution and corporate clients.

Chuck’s recent experience includes acting for:

  • Canopy Growth Corporation (TSX: WEED; NYSE: CGC) in its offering of 4.25% convertible senior notes due 2023 in an aggregate principal amount of $500 million
  • An ad hoc committee of debtholders in a recapitalization transaction involving the exchange of approximately US$404 million of secured debt for common shares of the reorganized company and US$75 million in take-back debt pursuant to a new secured credit facility – the transaction was implemented pursuant to a plan of arrangement under the Canada Business Corporations Act
  • A Canadian Chartered Bank on a $296 million syndicated financing in favour of a leading seniors housing company
  • HSBC Bank Canada: Advising as administrative agent and the lenders on a US$510 million syndicated financing to Spin Master Ltd. and its subsidiaries in France, Hong Kong, Luxembourg, Mexico, United Kingdom and the United States
  • IBI Group: Advising in connection with this global architecture, planning, engineering and technology firm’s syndicated credit facility and convertible debt issuance
  • A Canadian Chartered Bank on a $121 million syndicated financing in favour of a steel fabricator and service provider
  • Fiera Capital on a combination first lien/second lien financing

Chuck is recognized as a leader in his field by such authorities as Chambers Canada, Lexpert, and Best Lawyers and has completed the Osgoode Certificate in Cannabis Law and Regulation.

*Services provided through a Professional Corporation

John M. Picone

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John M. Picone* is the National Chair of the firm’s Litigation and Dispute Resolution Practice and Co-Chair of the firm’s Securities Litigation Group. His practice focuses on complex securities, corporate, and commercial litigation, with an emphasis on shareholder disputes, class actions, and securities-related regulatory proceedings and investigations. John takes a strategic, practical, and results-oriented approach to highly complicated disputes. He has extensive experience representing public companies, directors and senior executives, and shareholders across numerous industries, especially in urgent litigation.

John has argued appeals before the Supreme Court of Canada and the Court of Appeal for Ontario, and regularly appears before the Ontario Superior Court of Justice (Commercial List) and the Ontario Capital Markets Tribunal. He was recently elected to the Ontario Bar Association Civil Litigation Executive.

John has recently acted as litigation counsel for the following clients:

  • A major public mining company and its directors and officers before the Supreme Court of Canada and the Court of Appeal for Ontario
  • Directors and officers of public companies in complex oppression proceedings and related litigation before the Ontario Superior Court of Justice (Commercial List)
  • Companies and individuals in high-stakes regulatory and review proceedings before the Ontario Capital Markets Tribunal and the British Columbia Securities Commission
  • Applicants and court-appointed officers in highly complex restructuring proceedings
  • Numerous public companies and hedge funds in the cannabis sector in proceedings before the Ontario Superior Court of Justice and at arbitration

*Services provided through a Professional Corporation