Canada Practice

Holland & Knight regularly advises Canadian clients on their business activities in the United States. Our Canadian clients range from seasoned dual-listed public companies with permanent operations in the U.S. to smaller companies seeking to grow their business in the U.S. or to make a first-time U.S. acquisition. In addition, we also assist major Canadian institutional investors in connection with their U.S. financial investments as well as Canadian private equity and venture capital investors pursuing U.S. growth strategies for their portfolio companies.

Representation for All Your U.S. Legal Needs  

Our attorneys can assist you with all aspects of your U.S. transactional, litigation and regulatory needs. We advise our Canadian clients on capital raising transactions, cross-border merger and acquisitions, large commercial litigations and business-critical government matters. In addition, we routinely provide advice on a wide range of matters, including securities (including under the Multi Jurisdictional Disclosure System), corporate governance, internal investigations and crisis management, mergers and acquisitions, antitrust, bankruptcy, international trade regulation, government contracts, real estate, tax, employee benefits, litigation, environmental, intellectual property, investment management, private wealth services, maritime and ship finance and structured finance. In many of these areas, our firm ranks among the top U.S. law firms in our key markets. Our clients are also able to draw on our extensive experience in industries such as leisure and hospitality, shipping, aviation, surface transportation, alcohol and beverage and media and entertainment.

Global Presence

Our network of offices strategically located in the key financial and business centers of the United States, including New York, Washington, Miami, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Tampa and Orlando, enables us to effectively respond to your U.S. legal needs. We also have offices in Mexico and Bogota, and we regularly advise clients from Latin America, Asia and the Nordic countries that are conducting transactions and other business in the U.S.

Our Canadian practice is supported by transactional, litigation and regulatory lawyers who are located across the major offices of the firm. Many of these lawyers have extensive experience advising Canadian companies doing business in the U.S., and a number of them are admitted in the relevant foreign jurisdictions, including Quebec.

Representative Experience

• advised CAE in connection with the acquisition of Technology Assisted Learning business unit from Research Triangle Institute
• advised Emkay in connection with the purchase of a Canadian vehicle fleet leasing and servicing business and the establishment of a cross border securitization program
• advised CGI in connection with the acquisition of Stanley and American Management Systems
• advised Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec in connection with certain U.S. debt investments
• advising start-up companies in connection with their U.S. intellectual property strategy
• advised Garda with respect to the acquisition of U.S. aviation companies and U.S. industrial security issues
• assisting Air Canada on transactional and regulatory issues raised by cooperation agreements and alliances, as well as on trade regulatory issues, aircraft financings and leasing related work
• represented Canadian National on the U.S. regulatory aspects of its acquisition of a U.S.-based railroad that also had a subsidiary with a shipping business on the Great Lakes, including extensive lobbying efforts to make sure transaction was grandfathered in when U.S. law changed in August 2004
• advising a major Canadian aircraft leasing company on U.S. export control issues
• representing Export Development Canada in connection with aircraft financings
• assisting Canadian exporters regarding U.S. Customs compliance
• advising a Canadian shipping company on compliance with U.S. export embargo laws
• assisting a Canadian textile manufacturer regarding U.S. defense export laws