Brett G. Harrison
Partner
Toronto
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Tel :
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416.865.7932
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Fax :
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647.722.6756
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Professional Experience
Brett has a general commercial litigation practice with an emphasis on restructuring, financial services, corporate governance and cross-border matters.
Brett obtained his LLB from the University of Western Ontario in 1999 and has received numerous awards for his academic achievements, including being named to the Dean's List for ranking in the top 10 percent of his class. Brett has also received several advocacy awards, including the award for Top Oral Advocate at the National Justice Bertha Wilson Advocacy competition.
After joining McMillan in 2000 as an articling student, Brett was called to the bar in 2001. He became an equity partner in 2007 and is cross-appointed to the Commercial Litigation and Corporate Restructuring Groups.
Brett frequently appears as counsel before the Ontario Superior Court (Commercial List) and the Ontario Court of Appeal in proceedings pursuant to the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act, the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act and the federal and provincial Business Corporations Acts. He has acted for debtor companies, boards of directors, creditors, receivers, trustees and purchasers.
Brett has significant experience acting for financial institutions, both as plaintiff and defendant. He has acted on a number of complex collection and enforcement matters as well as lender liability and Bills of Exchange Act matters. Brett is the editor of the firm's Financial Services Litigation Bulletin. He has extensive experience dealing with cross-border litigation issues for both corporate clients and financial institutions and is an active member of the American Bar Association where he currently serves in leadership as co-chair for the 2011 Annual Meeting.
As a member of the firm's Professional Standards and Excellence Committee, Brett is part of the group responsible for keeping the firm at the leading edge of addressing e-discovery issues. He sits on the Ontario E-Discovery Implementation Committee (EIC); a joint committee established by the Ontario Bar Association and The Advocates' Society. The EIC is comprised of members of the bench and bar who develop protocols, templates and precedents for e-discovery.
Brett is actively involved in giving back to the community. As the Pro Bono Partner for the Toronto office, Brett supervises and is actively involved in the delivery of Pro Bono services to the Toronto community. Brett is also Co-Chair of the Give a Day Legal Community Campaign helping to raise funds for the Steven Lewis Foundation and Dignitas International to help fight AIDS in Africa. Brett also serves on the board of the Canadian Children's Opera Company.
Awards
- Dean's List
- Top Oral Advocate – Wilson National Moot Competition
- Dean Ivan C. Rand Honour society Award for meritorious academic standing and outstanding contributions to the Faculty of Law
- Genest Murray Advocacy Award
Representative Transactions
- Successfully defended a Canadian Bank against a multi-million dollar lender liability claim at trial and on appeal (Cameron v National Bank of Canada, 2009 ONCA 707)
- Represented holders of over $1 billion in bonds contesting the leveraged buyout of BCE Inc. (BCE Inc. (Plan of Arrangement), 2008 QCCS 905 (Que. S.C. [Commercial Division])
- Successfully defended a Canadian Bank against a $180 million lender liability claim by an auto parts manufacturer (G.R.W. Industries (1985) Limited, G.R.W. Industries Inc. and Grant Wilson v. The Royal Bank of Canada and Captain Central Holdings (1974) Limited, July 18, 2007)
- Acted in Air Canada, Ravelston, Stelco, Irwin Toy, and JTI-Macdonald among other restructuring matters (Re JTI-MacDonald Corp., 2006 CanLII 10524 (Ont. S.C.S. [Commercial List]); Stelco Inc., Re, (2005), 18 B.L.R. (4th) 32 (Ont. C.A.)
- Acted for purchaser of the Disney Stores out of restructuring proceedings
- Successfully enforced a guarantee for approximately $1 million for US lender against the principle of the borrower and had judgment confined by the Ontario Court of Appeal (FL Receivables Trust 2002-A v. Cobrand Foods Ltd., (2007), 85 O.R. (3d) 561 (Ont. C.A.))
- Made new law in defending an employer from claim for negligent investigation (Correia v. Canac Kitchens, 2008 ONCA 506 (Ont. C.A.)
publications and presentations
Brett has written articles on court procedure, mediation, and the jurisdiction of the Court in insolvencies and various other insolvency related issues. Some recent examples include:
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