LEXPERT RANKED LAWYERS
"DON'T FORGET,
Mitchell, R. Ian
WeirFoulds LLP
(416) 947-5088
imitchell@weirfoulds.com
> Mr. Mitchell practises securities law, and has significant
experience in securities offerings, take-over bids, proxy battles
and shareholder disputes, mergers and corporate governance,
with a focus on clients in extractive industries.
Moore, J. Alexander
Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP
(416) 863-5570
amoore@dwpv.com
> Mr. Moore practises corporate law with an emphasis on public
company M&A, private equity transactions, proxy contests and
contested transactions. He has extensive experience advising
mining issuers on M&A, financing matters and joint ventures.
Morris, Kevin M.
Torys LLP
(416) 865-7633
kmorris@torys.com
> Mr. Morris, co-head of Torys' Corporate and Capital Markets
practice, regularly acts for issuers, investors and investment banks
on M&A and capital-raising transactions in the mining sector.
Murphy, Robert S.
Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP
(416) 863-5537
rmurphy@dwpv.com
> Mr. Murphy practises securities law with a focus on capital
markets transactions, M&A and disclosure issues, and has extensive
experience in the mining sector and on cross-border matters.
Murray, Ronald G.
Farris, Vaughan, Wills & Murphy LLP
(604) 661-9306
rmurray@farris.com
> With nearly 20 years of experience advising mining clients on
a range of corporate, securities and M&A matters, Mr. Murray has
gained a reputation for being an innovative and practical problemsolver by balancing legal rigour and business realities.
Olasker, Patricia L.
Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP
(416) 863-5551
polasker@dwpv.com
> Ms. Olasker focuses on public company M&A, including private
equity acquisitions, proxy contests and international and domestic
corporate finance, including public market derivatives, high-yield debt
and MJDS offerings. She is also an adjunct professor at Osgoode Hall.
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LEXPERT
| 2013/14 | WWW.LEXPERT.CA
in a lot of places, particularly
in Africa and South America, if
you're paying royalties or you're
paying taxes those monies
are not coming to build roads,
infrastructure, schools, water
wells, etc. The government keeps
the money. So you really have to
look after your people and your
population by providing all those
services and all the attachables."
– John Sabine, Bennett Jones LLP
As CSR is increasingly working its way onto the
corporate agenda, it is also working its way onto the
curricula of many business schools and, as lawyers
have a larger role to play, universities are taking note.
Freeze has taken several courses in this area.
There's no question in her mind that CSR is a much
more mainstream business consideration than it used
to be.
It is still about being sensitive to the communities
that live around her company's deposit in Northern
Peru, she says. It's just that the stakes are higher in getting it wrong.
It could cost companies like hers investors, and
make it more difficult to raise funds.
"I don't have a choice, if you know what I mean,"
says Freeze. "It is not like it is a risk to engage in CSR,
we must engage in CSR. But reputation is everything.
You can make mistakes, anyone can make mistakes, if
you recognize and correct them. It is people thinking
you are not getting it right – or that you didn't care in
the first place – that could really hurt you."
Anne Drost, a mining lawyer and co-chair of the
Corporate Social Responsibility Law Practice Group
at Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP in Montréal,
says when it comes to CSR issues "there are two courts
at play.
"There is the legal court and the court of public
opinion, and there's a correlation between CSR and
reputation. A company's reputation has a huge value
attached to it."
That's why so many companies are adopting formal
CSR policies to be implemented in their operations
around the world.
Sabine says companies that aren't sold on the importance of CSR should look at what happened to Barrick Gold in Chile, where indigenous communities
convinced the government to order a halt to develop-
