Cassels

Canadian Corporate Law Firm

University of New Brunswick

Danica Jorgenson

by

Danica Jorgenson (she/her/hers) is an associate in the Restructuring & Insolvency Group at Cassels. Danica is developing a broad practice with regards to domestic and cross-border corporate restructurings. Danica also offers experience with general corporate transactions, corporate and commercial matters, and mergers and acquisitions.

During law school, Danica was co-president of the Feminist Legal Association and the Mental Health and the Law Society. Danica also volunteered with the Fredericton Legal Advice Clinic and the Sexual Violence New Brunswick while at law school and is now a member of the National Steering Committee for the National Association of Women and the Law.

Prior to joining Cassels, Danica articled and served as an associate at another national Canadian law firm.

Jessica Brown

by

Jessica Brown* is a partner in the Capital Markets and Mergers & Acquisitions Groups at Cassels. Her practice focuses on securities and corporate law, including mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance, shareholder activism, corporate governance, and general corporate matters. The breadth of Jessica’s expertise, combined with her commercial insights, allows her to provide practical and tailored solutions to complex transactions.

Jessica is a trusted advisor to both issuers and dealers and regularly helps them successfully navigate securities and governance matters, IPOs, TSX and TSX Venture Exchange listings and related transactions, capital markets transactions, public and private share and asset acquisitions and divestitures, and compliance with securities regulatory requirements.

Jessica is a member of the TSX Venture Exchange’s Alberta Local Advisory Committee and the Alberta Securities Commission’s Securities Advisory Committee. She is also a member of the Alberta Bar Association, the Canadian Bar Association, and the Calgary Bar Association.

Recent experience includes:

  • Counsel to the dealer managers in Suncor Energy Inc.’s and Suncor Energy Ventures Holding Corporation’s $3.6 billion tender offer of notes
  • Counsel to a private investment fund in its regulated water and wastewater utility portfolio company, SouthWest Water Company’s, business combination with Corix Infrastructure Inc.
  • Canadian counsel to Exterran Corporation in the US$735 million plan of merger with Enerflex Ltd.
  • Counsel to the agents in Stampede Drilling Ltd.’s $26.6 million marketed public offering of common shares
  • Counsel to Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. in its $16 billion acquisition and privatization of Inter Pipeline Ltd.
  • Counsel to SNDL Inc. (formerly Sundial Growers Inc.) in its $346 million acquisition of Alcanna Inc. pursuant to a Plan of Arrangement
  • Counsel to PrairieSky Royalty Ltd. in respect of its $230.1 million public offering of common shares
  • Counsel to Lithia Motors, Inc. in its acquisition of luxury car dealership chain Pfaff Automotive Partners
  • Counsel to AltaGas in respect of its $500 million offering of senior unsecured medium term notes with a coupon rate of 2.157 percent, maturing on June 10, 2025
  • Counsel to Tourmaline Oil Corp. in respect of the formation of Topaz Energy Corp., a new private royalty and infrastructure energy company. Topaz purchased interests in certain revenue generating assets from Tourmaline for $194.5 million in cash and 59.1 million Topaz common shares
  • Counsel to Headwater Exploration Inc. management team for $50 million recapitalization and reconstitution of management of Corridor Resources Inc.

Prior to joining Cassels, Jessica served as a partner in the Calgary office of another national, full-service law firm.

*denotes Professional Corporation

Guy-Étienne (Guy) Richard

by

Guy-­Étienne Richard is an associate in the Employment & Labour Group at Cassels. Guy-­Étienne specializes in all aspects of pensions, executive compensation, and labour law. He has assisted clients on public and private mergers and acquisitions, pension plan investments and administration, insolvencies and reorganizations, and other corporate matters. Guy-­Étienne has also acted for clients on a wide range of labour and employment issues, including investigations, human rights, wrongful terminations, collective bargaining, and arbitration.

Prior to joining Cassels, Guy­-Étienne served as an associate in the Toronto office of another national firm.

Marc Mercier

by

Marc Mercier* is a partner in the Banking & Specialty Finance Group at Cassels, serving as a current member and Past Chair of the firm’s Audit & Risk Management Committee. Marc’s practice places a particular emphasis on secured, unsecured and merger and acquisition financing, treasury management and financial derivatives-related matters, along with reorganizational workouts and restructurings. Marc also has an extensive practice serving the needs of various financial institutions in their family office, high net worth and ultra-high net worth areas, as well as various family enterprises and family offices.

Marc’s representative experience includes having acted for:

  • Planet Fitness in Canada in its $1.275 billion refinancing transaction
  • Wendy’s Restaurants in Canada in its recent sale of US$1.075 billion in senior secured notes
  • Summitt Energy and SFE Energy in their energy supply agreements in Canada and the US
  • The Federal Government of Canada in connection with the restructurings and refinancings of General Motors and Chrysler
  • Harley-Davidson Canada in its renewal of syndicated bank credit facilities totalling US$500 million for a three-year term to support its and HDFS Canada’s commercial paper program and to fund its and HDFS Canada’s lending activities and other operations

Marc recently received his family enterprise advisor certification through Family Enterprise Canada to better support his private client and wealth management practice. With over three decades of experience, Marc has a prominent practice in the high and ultra-high net worth area working closely on behalf of leading financial institutions and for founders and multi-generational family enterprises. He knows and understands the importance of integrity, trust, discipline, risk management and connection. Marc takes the time to view things holistically with a keen eye on transgenerational wealth planning and execution. Marc is committed to providing high quality advice and strategic legal services and is accustomed to working within a multi-professional advisory framework.

Marc is the author of various articles published in legal journals and texts. He speaks frequently at derivatives, secured lending, insolvency and restructuring, and law reform conferences and bank seminars. His article “How Wealthy Canadians Are Navigating Global Uncertainty and Volatility,” was recently published by Advisor.ca. Some of Marc’s other publications include:

  • Author, Bank Security and Other Credit Enhancement Methods in Canada (Kluwer), 2003
  • Author, “A New Era of Derivatives” (Osgoode Hall Professional Development), 2004
  • Co-Author, “Guarantee and Indemnity”, Halsbury’s Laws of Canada (LexisNexis), 2022
  • Co-Author, The Law of Banking and Payment in Canada (Thomson Reuters), 2022-Present

In addition to being an adjunct faculty member of the University of Toronto Faculty of Law in the late 1990s, where he led classes in debt financing and restructuring, Marc has also been an adjunct faculty member at Osgoode Hall Law School at York University (2005-2019), where he taught advanced financing law in the graduate (masters level) banking programme.

Marc has been active in firm leadership for many years, having served in many key strategic roles at Cassels, including as Chair of the Professional Development Committee; Chair of the Financial Service Group; Chair of the Audit & Risk Management Committee and member of the firm’s Executive Committee. As a senior member of the firm’s financial services practice area, Marc is also extremely active in the practice development and mentoring of both senior and junior members of the firm.

Outside his day-to-day practice, Marc is equally committed to sports, believing in the power of sport to enhance personal confidence, teamwork capabilities, goal setting and personal discipline. Marc currently serves as Chair of the Ontario Hockey Association (OHA) and has been involved with the Ontario Junior Hockey League (OJHL) for many years, including as Chair of the OJHL Board of Governors and as Governor of the Cobourg Cougars when they won the RBC Cup (now the Centennial Cup) in 2017. In 2018, the OJHL honoured Marc with the Chairman’s Award, which is presented to an individual who demonstrates the core values of the OJHL including integrity, professionalism and sportsmanship. In 2021, this award was renamed the “Marc Mercier Chairman’s Award” in recognition of Marc’s leadership, guidance and dedication to the OJHL over many years.

Beyond sports, Marc accepted the role of President of The National Club in 2023. As this institution celebrates its 150th Anniversary, Marc is committed to propelling The National Club to greater heights and ensuring the Club’s vibrancy for years to come. He also remains active with his alma mater through the Boston University Alumni Association of Canada, where he previously served as Vice President. Marc also successfully climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in July of 2018.

*Services provided through a Professional Corporation

Thomas Isaac

by

Thomas Isaac* is Chair of the firm’s Aboriginal Law Group. A nationally recognized authority in Aboriginal law, Tom advises business and government clients across Canada on Aboriginal legal matters and related regulatory, environmental assessment, negotiations and constitutional issues. Tom has extensive national experience advising energy, oil, gas, pipeline, mining, forestry, real estate and transportation companies, and federal, provincial, territorial, municipal and Indigenous governments and agencies on Aboriginal, regulatory and constitutional matters. He regularly negotiates on behalf of industry and governments concerning impact, benefit, economic development, replacement tenure, and access agreements with Aboriginal groups, and advises on Aboriginal consultation and accommodation processes and agreements. In recognition of his important and significant work in this area, Tom was honoured as one of Canada’s “Top 25 Most Influential” lawyers by Canadian Lawyer magazine in 2018.

Tom’s litigation practice is national in scope and focuses on representing clients regarding Aboriginal and related constitutional matters before courts and tribunals across Canada, including: Supreme Court of Canada, the Federal, Ontario, British Columbia, Saskatchewan, New Brunswick and PEI Courts of Appeal, the Manitoba Court of King’s Bench, BC Supreme Court, PEI Court of King’s Bench, New Brunswick Court of King’s Bench, Northwest Territories and Yukon Supreme Courts, the Ontario Divisional Court and the Federal Court of Canada, and the Canadian Energy Regulator, Ontario Energy Board, and British Columbia Environmental Appeal Board, among others. His published works on Aboriginal law have been cited with approval by Canadian courts, including the Supreme Court of Canada and the Federal Court of Appeal. Tom has also served as a mediator involving complex, multi-jurisdictional Aboriginal-related disputes.

Tom is a former Chief Treaty Negotiator for the Government of British Columbia and former Assistant Deputy Minister responsible for establishing Nunavut for the Government of the Northwest Territories. He also served in a senior capacity with the Government of Saskatchewan dealing with Aboriginal issues. Tom has published extensively in Aboriginal law, including 16 books, most notably Aboriginal Law, 6th Ed.

Tom was appointed as the Minister’s Special Representative to the Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs regarding a Section 35 Métis Rights and Reconciliation Framework and a reconciliation approach for the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision in Manitoba Métis Federation v. Canada. His Report – A Matter of National and Constitutional Import: Métis Section 35 Rights and the Manitoba Metis Federation Decision – was released by Canada in July 2016. Tom also served as the Minister’s Special Representative to the Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs and the Premier of the Northwest Territories regarding the Akaitcho Dene and NWT Métis Nation negotiations in the Northwest Territories. His Report – A Path to Reconciliation – was released by both governments in March 2017.

Tom is presently serving as the Minister’s Special Representative for the Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs regarding the Gottfriedson class action settlement agreements with the Government of Canada relating to residential school day students.

*Services provided through a Law Corporation