photo: insurance and reinsurance practice co-lead Jill McCutcheon
Gowling WLG has beefed up its regulatory services practice with partners Jill McCutcheon and Melissa Prado, who will be leading Gowling WLG’s insurance and reinsurance practice together.
McCutcheon and Prado are joined by counsel Kelly Morris. The three additions, all of whom hail from Torys LLP, will all be based in Toronto.
The team brings experience in new insurer formation, the acquisitions and dispositions of insurers and books of business, foreign insurers’ market entry, insurers and intermediaries licensing, the drafting of specialized agreements for the insurance and reinsurance sector, requirements under the Insurance Companies Act and OSFI’s related guidelines, regulatory inquiries, regulatory investigations, and compliance requirements and regulatory matters.
McCutcheon spent over nine years at Torys and co-led its financial services regulatory practice. Prado logged over 14 years at Torys, starting from when she was an articling student according to LinkedIn. Morris was with Torys for over eight years.
Jill McCutcheon
McCutcheon concentrates on insurance - corporate, regulatory and transactional matters. She has worked with clients in the property and casualty and life and reinsurance sectors, including insurers, reinsurers, banks, credit unions, intermediaries, cover holders and MGAs, third-party administrators, retailers, employers, and associations.
The Lexpert-ranked lawyer has drafted pension buy-in and buy-out arrangements and related reinsurance solutions, as well as outsourcing, distribution and other specialized agreements.
Melissa Prado
Prado has guided domestic and international insurers, reinsurers, financial institutions, and intermediaries. She has tackled insurer and intermediary formations and licensing, acquisitions and divestitures, reinsurance arrangements, distribution arrangements, captive insurer formations, regulatory compliance, corporate governance, and transformative transactions involving insurance regulated entities.
She has worked with federal, provincial, and territorial insurance regulators and industry organizations in Canada. She has advised on insurance mergers and acquisitions deals involving major domestic and international insurers, captive insurer structures, complex bank-insurance arrangements, and cross-border regulatory matters.
Kelly Morris
Morris has handled corporate, regulatory, and compliance frameworks shaping Canadian operations. Her clients have included domestic and foreign insurers, reinsurers, banks, brokers, agents, adjusters, warranty providers, third-party administrators, and insurance intermediaries.
She has worked on the incorporation, organization, licensing and governance of insurers, brokers, agents and adjusters; matters involving Canadian market conduct, regulatory, licensing and compliance requirements; distribution, outsourcing and telemarketing arrangements; acquisitions of insurance companies and agencies; transfers of books of business; and the withdrawal and wind-up of insurers.
Morris has helped to prepare insurance policies and fulfilment documents. She has advised on marketing and promotional materials and the issuance and distribution of near-insurance products, including warranties. She has advised on compliance with federal and provincial privacy legislation as well as with the anti-spam law.
“Insurance is a highly specialized, relationship-driven industry, and Jill, Melissa, and Kelly have built a formidable practice at the centre of that ecosystem,” said Pierre Pilote, who chairs Gowling WLG’s specialized practices department, in a statement.