Minden Gross LLP is a mid-sized business-oriented law firm providing representation and assistance in the broad areas of real estate, corporate and commercial transactions, financial services, litigation, securities and capital markets, corporate tax planning, and employment and labour law. We also counsel and assist clients in personal matters related to their tax and estate planning. Our services are scalable and tailored to meet the specific needs of our clients, from large international and national organizations to small business enterprises and individuals. We seek practical, effective, and timely solutions for our clients.
We believe we have a particular strength in our desire and ability to understand our clients’ businesses. With this expertise, we provide added value and advice beyond merely processing transactions. Members of the firm work in partnership with clients and view themselves as active participants in the achievement of client goals.
Award-Winning Law Firm
Clients and colleagues have demonstrated their appreciation for our work philosophy by voting us as a Top 10 Regional Law Firm – Ontario in Canadian Lawyer since 2013. We are also listed as a leading law firm in The Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory in Property Development and Property Leasing as well as in The Best Lawyers in Canada.
Global Reach
Minden Gross LLP is the exclusive Toronto member of Meritas, one of the world’s largest alliances of independent law firms with a unified global reach. Meritas is the gateway to more than 8,000 experienced lawyers from a growing list of full-service law firms serving 225+ markets worldwide. Meritas offers clients of its member firms, and others requiring legal assistance in unfamiliar jurisdictions, access to full-service commercial law firms who meet the highest professional and service standards, whose services are regularly evaluated, and who are deeply rooted in their local communities.
E-mail: [email protected]
Twitter: @MindenGross
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/minden-gross-llp
Contact Partners: Brian Temins – (416) 369-4169; Samantha Prasad – (416) 369-4155; Irvin Schein – (416) 369-4136
Key Practice Areas
Business Law
Whether a company is just starting out or a well-established multinational, they need the ability to anticipate the future in order to succeed in today’s competitive marketplace. Our Business Law lawyers helps them prepare, grow, and even sell the business. Our lawyers offer a broad spectrum of expertise to businesses and organizations ranging from global to locally-rooted enterprises.
We apply Minden Gross LLP’s practical and results-oriented approach to help clients achieve their goals. As such, we draw freely upon other firm practice areas, assembling innovative and highly skilled professional teams to meet specific situations.
Our Business Law Group handles the entire range of services required by any business, large or small, established or startup, domestic or multinational.
Employment and Labour Law
The Employment and Labour Group provides employers with timely, practical, and straightforward advice on the common law, employment-related legislation, and employee relations. We strive to resolve disputes realistically without resorting to expensive, time consuming, unpredictable, and divisive formal court or administrative proceedings. However, we do not hesitate to utilize all legal avenues available, including litigation, when it is in the best interests of our client.
We develop ongoing collaborative relationships with clients so that we can help identify and resolve issues that might otherwise become problematic later. This strategy encourages a more productive and motivated workforce and leads to a more flexible and profitable business.
Financial Services Law
The Financial Services Group comprises a multi-disciplinary team of innovative business lawyers who are recognized for their depth of expertise and responsiveness in a sophisticated and demanding financial marketplace.
With an in-depth understanding of the competitive regional, national, and international financial services sector, our team offers extensive experience and a comprehensive range of services that include: asset-based, secured, and unsecured lending; bankruptcy; restructuring; project financing; real estate lending and property leasing; secured creditor rights; loan enforcement, and more.
Commercial Leasing Law
The Commercial Leasing Group offers some of the pre-eminent expertise in the field. Our team acts for developers, lenders, property and asset managers, landlords, and tenants of all types of office, industrial and retail properties. Our comprehensive knowledge of the business aspects of leasing enables us to offer value-added counsel in negotiating leases and related agreements, structuring transactions and enforcement of landlord and tenant rights and remedies.
We develop innovative lease document packages and systems that are tailor-made for clients. We appreciate and share clients' impatience with unnecessarily long and complex paperwork. We believe that short, well-drafted, easily understandable lease documents help achieve win-win results for landlords and tenants.
Litigation
Our Litigation Group is experienced handling diverse demands in dispute resolution. We provide representation in all facets of litigation before all levels of the Canadian judicial system. We are trusted in dealing with all commercial disputes including banking matters, construction lien claims, bankruptcy and insolvency issues, negligence actions, wrongful dismissal and other labour law matters, personal injury, insurance claims, and others. We have represented clients in courts and tribunals throughout Ontario at trial and appeal levels up to and including the Supreme Court of Canada.
We recognize clients' preferences for creative solutions and timely results rather than lengthy and uncertain legal battles. We take maximum advantage from the synergy between the Group's internal skills in procedure and advocacy and the substantive expertise of others within the firm. This multi-disciplinary approach allows us to offer clients thoughtful and effective counseling both before proceedings are commenced and during the course of legal actions. It ensures clients receive the best comprehensive representation.
Property Assessment and Taxation Law
Our Property Assessment and Taxation Law Group provides legal advice and representation on property assessment and municipal taxation issues. This hybrid area complements our real estate, commercial leasing, and litigation groups.
Our lawyers are advocates for commercial landlords, tenants, developers, property managers, and financial institutions on property assessment and tax matters with the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation, the Assessment Review Board, and the Superior Court of Ontario.
We pursue applications for property tax exemptions, vacancy and charitable tax rebates, tax rebates, and other forms of tax grants. We provide realty tax estimates and verify tax appeal adjustments and tax billing calculations.
In commercial leasing, our expertise lies in drafting and interpreting realty tax clauses in leases and ensuring they align with our client’s tax recovery goals alongside the current legislative assessment scheme. We also represent clients in disputes relating to realty tax allocations for landlords and tenants.
Commercial Real Estate Law
Our Commercial Real Estate Group represents developers, owners and tenants of commercial and industrial properties, shopping centres, and condominiums. With broad experience in real estate construction and development law, we advise clients on land acquisition and assembly, zoning matters and land use matters, joint ventures, ground leases, contracts, and property management.
We possess a significant institutional real estate practice representing high profile REITs and other public real estate entities, banks, trust companies, and insurance companies. We provide counsel for lenders and borrowers in structuring, restructuring, negotiating, implementing and completing a wide variety of transactions, including acquisitions, sales and various financing strategies for real estate projects.
Securities and Capital Markets Law
Our Securities and Capital Markets Group helps clients in Canada, the United States, and around the globe access Canadian capital market opportunities. We have deep understanding of securities laws, ranging from public disclosure obligations to corporate governance and providing practical and efficient transactional advice for our public company and investment banking clients. Our knowledge of securities laws and our relationships with regulatory bodies and exchanges enables our team to provide top tier advice, value, and support to our clients.
Our team regularly acts for a variety of Toronto Stock Exchange and TSX Venture Exchange companies in a variety of industries including life sciences, mining, technology, and oil and gas. We also regularly act for some of Canada’s leading investment banks and financial institutions, investment funds, hedge funds, and other market participants. We advise them on complex Canadian and cross-border transactions including, but not limited to, short-form prospectus offerings, initial public offerings, reverse take-overs, plan of arrangements, take-over bids, and special committee representation.
Tax Law
Our Tax Law Group provides creative tax effective structuring and advice, primarily to owner/manager enterprises and related corporate groups. This often involves advice on business succession planning, corporate reorganizations, restructurings, mergers and acquisitions, and exit strategies.
We assist in strategizing establishing a new business or in buying and selling assets. The Tax Law Group’s clients also include other professionals in the banking, accounting, and legal fields, assisting them in providing strategic tax advice to their clients. Our tax lawyers are highly regarded across Canada as leading experts in the field.
As part of being a member of the affiliation of Meritas Law Firms Worldwide, we are actively involved in Meritas Canada Tax and regularly work with other Meritas firms across Canada to serve our clients’ needs to help structure their tax affairs internationally.
Wills and Estates
The Wills and Estates Group provides a full range of sophisticated legal and planning advice. We focus on both long-term estate planning requirements as well as ongoing family-related concerns. Services include the preparation of wills and powers of attorney and the creation of trusts to facilitate estate-planning endeavors. We assist individual clients as well as trust companies on a range of legal issues, including the interpretation and enforceability of wills and trust arrangements, the rights of beneficiaries, the duties of executors and trustees, and mental incapacity issues.
In addition to estate planning and administration, we offer expertise in estate litigation, including challenging the validity of wills, varying wills or trusts, contested passing of accounts applications, dependant support applications, spousal rights, breach-of-trust actions and all related proceedings.
