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Robin B. Schwill

Robin Schwill is a partner in the Financial Restructuring & Insolvency practice. Robin provides advice regarding corporate turnarounds, work-outs and restructurings; distressed asset sales and acquisitions; debtor-in-possession financings; secured and unsecured creditor rights enforcement; and all facets of Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act and Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act proceedings. He has also been involved with a number of private merger and acquisition transactions and a variety of secured lending matters. Robin has gained a broad and deep perspective in such engagements by having represented players from every angle, including: debtors, boards, purchasers, secured creditors, unsecured creditors, private and court-appointed receivers, interim receivers, monitors and trustees in bankruptcy.

Representative Work

  • Acting as Canadian counsel to Nortel Networks UK Limited together with 18 of its subsidiaries, all of which are subject to administration proceedings under the jurisdiction of the High Court of Justice, Chancery Division, Companies Court in England (the "UK Court") pursuant to England's Insolvency Act 1986 and are thereby under the control of joint administrators appointed by the UK Court, in conjunction with the global restructuring of the Nortel group of companies and the coordination of Canadian and U.S. insolvency proceedings.

  • Acted for Shaw Communications Inc. in its $2-billion acquisition through Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act proceedings of the conventional and specialty television business of Canwest Global Communications Corp., now known as Shaw Media.

  • Acted for Barzel Industries Canada Inc. (formerly Novamerican Steel) in its cross-border restructuring proceedings involving independent proceedings under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act run in parallel concert with U.S. Chapter 11 proceedings for the U.S. parent company and U.S. subsidiaries and implementing a cross-border "stalking horse" sale agreement, cross-border bidding and auction process and closing of such sale within 65 days of the initial filing.

  • Acted as counsel for Cooper-Standard Automotive Canada Limited in its filing under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act and related proceedings under Chapter 11.

  • Acting as counsel to the liquidator, Duff & Phelps Canada Restructuring Inc. in the court-supervised liquidation of Coventree Inc.

  • Acted for Coventree Inc. and the conduits sponsored by it in connection with the restructuring of $32 billion of non-bank sponsored asset-backed commercial paper.

  • Acted as Canadian counsel to the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors in the cross-border U.S. Chapter 11 and Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act proceedings pertaining to Pope & Talbot Ltd.

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Recognition

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  • Recognized in The Canadian Legal Lexpert® Directory as a repeatedly recommended leading lawyer in the area of Insolvency.
  • Cited in Chambers Global: The Guide to the World's Leading Lawyers for Business in Restructuring/Insolvency.
  • Recognized by The Best Lawyers in Canada in the area of Insolvency and Financial Restructuring law.

Professional Affiliations

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Member, Insolvency Institute of Canada

Former Chair, Insolvency Law Section, Ontario Bar Association

American Bankruptcy Institute

Turnaround Management Association (Toronto Chapter)

INSOL International

Law Society of Upper Canada

Board Memberships

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  • Former director and president of The Boulevard Club Limited

Community Involvement

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Teaching Engagements

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Robin is an expert on financial statement disclosure and transparency issues, having been an award-winning lecturer on this topic for over 15 years in the MBA program at York University’s Schulich School of Business. He currently continues to lecture on this topic for the Schulich Executive Education Centre at York University.

Robin has lectured on bankruptcy, insolvency and secured transaction matters of various Professional Development Programs of Osgoode Hall Law School.

Robin has also been a lecturer in finance and commercial law courses for the Credit Institute of Canada.

Speaking Engagements

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Robin is often invited as a guest speaker on corporate restructuring matters at both the Schulich School of Business and Osgoode Hall Law School at York University.

Robin has made a number of presentations on bankruptcy, insolvency and secured transaction matters for various programs sponsored by the Canadian and Ontario Bar Associations.

Robin has been interviewed numerous times on financial accounting issues for ROB/TV (now BNN), CanadaAM, The Globe & Mail and Radio Canada International.

The following is a summary of Robin's past speaking engagements and topics:

  • Guest Lecturer on Distressed M&A, Queen's University Law School, March 5, 2012.
  • Guest Lecturer on Restructurings – Nortel and Canwest Media case studies, Osgoode Hall Law School, November 22, 2011.
  • Guest Lecturer on Restructurings, Schulich School of Business, York University, November 14, 2011.
  • How to Draft Solid Opinions, Osgoode Hall Law School Professional Development Program: Perfect Your PPSA Skills, November 10, 2011.
  • Fuzzy Reception: The not-so-clear determination of legal issues in Canwest Media, Annual Conference of the Insolvency Institute of Canada, September 9, 2011 (St. John's, Newfoundland).
  • Accounting for Lawyers, OBA CLE Program, April 21, 2011.
  • Providing Opinions: Tips and Traps – What Works and What Doesn't, Osgoode Hall Law School Professional Development Program: The Intensive Short Course – Commercial Loan Finance and Security, February 8-9, 2011.
  • PPSA Opinions: A Back to Basics Approach, Osgoode Hall Law School Professional Development Program: Perfecting Your PPSA Skills, November 10, 2010.
  • Understanding and Interpreting Financial Statements, The Certificate in Business for Lawyers, A Program of The Hennick Centre for Business and Law, Osgoode Hall Law School and the Shulich School of Business, York University, March 22, 2010.
  • Acting for the Debtor or Directors, OBA Institute 2010 – Insolvency Law – Restructurings In Canada: What you need to know about BIA Proposals and CCAA Plans of Compromise or Arrangement, February 16, 2010.
  • PPSA Opinions: A Back to Basics Approach, Osgoode Hall Law School Professional Development Program: Perfecting Your PPSA Skills, November 18-19, 2009.
  • The Legal Framework Part III: (Pending) Amendments to the BIA and CCAA Affecting Labour, Building Bridges: Discussing Labour Issues in Restructuring Proceedings, OBA CLE Program April 24, 2009.
  • The Impact of the New Insolvency Reforms on Asset Sale Transactions, Ready, Set, Go!: New Insolvency Amendments to the BIA and CCAA, OBA CLE Program, December 1, 2008.
  • Special Issues in Insolvency Purchases, Pension and Employee Benefits in M&A, OBA CLE Program, November 22, 2008.
  • Bankruptcy in the Supply Chain: Managing the Insolvent Customer or Supplier, Supply Chain and Logistics Canada Annual Conference: Executing a Lean Supply Chain, May 9, 2006.
  • Chapter 15: Cross-Border Insolvencies, Canadian Association of Insolvency and Restructuring Professionals: Commercial Insolvency and Restructuring Program, April 19, 2006.
  • Tips for Buying from a Receiver, The Law Society of Upper Canada: The Six Minute Debtor-Creditor Lawyer Seminar, March 31, 2005.
  • Overview of the Ontario Personal Property Security Act, Osgoode Hall Law School Professional Development Program: Perfecting Your PPSA Skills, 2001, 2002, 2003 & 2004.
  • Getting Your Priorities Straight: The Shifting Sands of Who Gets What, The Canadian Institute 4th Annual Conference on Enforcing Creditors' Rights, July 12, 2004.
  • Dealing with Aggressive and Creative Accounting Practices, INFONEX Conference on Immunizing Your Board through Effective Audit and Risk Committees, June 2002.
  • Stock Options, The 2002 Executive Back to Campus Program sponsored by the Schulich School of Business and Canadian Council of Chief Executives, June 2002.
  • Evaluating The Worth of a Company: Analyzing the Financial Sheets, IP and More, The Canadian Institute Intensive Course on Financial Statement Analysis, May 2001.

Articles and Publications

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Robin has written a number of articles on insolvency and restructuring issues for Insolvency News, The Lawyers Weekly, the National Insolvency Review and the Banking & Finance Law Review.

The following is a summary of Robin's published articles:

  • Re Indalex Limited: When Good Intentions Make Bad Law, 51 C.B.L.J. 467, September 2011.
  • Changing the Channel: Shaw Communications' Acquisition of Canwest Media, 27 B.F.L.R. 51, September 2011.
  • Stay Tuned: Legal Issues in the Canwest Media Restructuring, 27 B.F.L.R. 73, September 2011.
  • The Bulk Sales Act (Ontario): Down But Not Out, 25 B.F.L.R. 525, June 2010.
  • Good Stewardship in Bad Times, 24 B.F.L.R. 151, September 2008.
  • GMAC Commercial Credit Corp. – Canada v. TCT Logistics Inc. – The Highway of Dashed Hopes, 22 B.F.L.R. 291, February 2007.
  • Tinted Blue: Forward Commodity Contracts after Androscoggin Energy LLC, Insolvency News, Volume 20, No. 3, May 2005.
  • Court Case Clarifies Interpretation of "Eligible Financial Contracts", The Lawyers Weekly, March 18, 2005 (co-authored).
  • A Trilogy Completed: Re Ottawa Senators Hockey Club Corp., Insolvency News, Volume 20, No. 2, February 2005.
  • Court Brings Successor Employer Liability Home to Roost, The Lawyers Weekly, November 5, 2004.
  • The Aftermath of T.C.T. Logistics, Insolvency News, Volume 20, No. 1 (September 2004).
  • Definition of "Insolvent" under the CCAA – Going Broke is Enough, Insolvency News, Volume 19, No. 4, May 2004.
  • Bankruptcy Court Cannot Eliminate Successor Employer Liability for Receivers and Trustees, Insolvency News, Volume 19, No. 4, May 2004.
  • Shades of Blue: Derivatives in Re Blue Range Resource Corp., 16 B.F.L.R. 427, July 2001 (co-authored).
  • Who can bind the Crown in insolvency proceedings? National Insolvency Review, Volume 14, Nos. 4 and 5, August and October 1997 (co-authored).

 

Robin Schwill
Robin B. Schwill
Partner
Office:
Toronto
Tel:
416.863.5502
Email:
rschwill@dwpv.com
Bar Admissions:

Ontario, 1996

Education:

Osgoode Hall Law School, LL.B., 1994

York University, M.B.A., 1991; B.B.A., 1990