Oil & Gas Tax Team move from Venn Law to McCarthy Tétrault
McCarthy Tétrault has announced the addition of five new tax and oil & gas lawyers in Calgary, deepening our offering to corporate clients in the Calgary market, nationally and internationally.
Ron Mar, Craig Spurn, Edmund Gill and Kurtis Bond are joining the firm as partners, along with Chris McLelland, who is joining as an associate. Previously the group comprised the Calgary boutique firm, Venn Law, which they formed after leaving their roles in a large national firm. After building a successful boutique practice, the team realized their clients would be best served by a highly integrated firm with a strong national platform and resources.
The team’s collective talent and expertise will help McCarthy Tétrault continue to respond to clients’ growing needs for creative, sophisticated tax solutions and oil & gas industry expertise.
“With these lawyers on our team, we can provide even better service to our growing domestic and international oil and gas practice,” said Greg Turnbull, Regional Managing Partner for Alberta. “And I can say with confidence that, when combined with our existing Tax team, we now offer clients the strongest full-service tax practice in Western Canada.”
“Our new colleagues will offer our clients greater depth and expertise, while continuing the strategic growth in our Calgary office,” said Marc-André Blanchard, Chair and CEO of McCarthy Tétrault. “The fact that they chose to join McCarthy Tétrault demonstrates our appeal to legal professionals as a great place to work and a place to do great work for great clients.”
Ron Mar, Edmund Gill and Kurtis Bond are joining McCarthy Tétrault’s Tax Group as partners.
Mr. Mar has extensive experience with mergers & acquisitions, divestitures, financings and reorganizations in the Canadian resource sector. He advises domestic and international clients on cross border investments, investments by tax exempt entities and the structure of energy ventures, and practises tax law with an emphasis on strategies to maximize the income tax efficiency of businesses. Ron Mar is listed in the Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory as a leading corporate tax practitioner and in The Best Lawyers in Canada, and is a Governor of the Canadian Tax Foundation.
Edmund Gill’s tax practice focuses on commercial transactions and planning. He has worked on a wide variety of transactions for clients that include multinationals; senior, intermediate and junior oil and gas companies; income and royalty trusts; private equity and pension funds; and private companies. Mr. Gill was the 1999 silver medalist at the University of Alberta law school. He is a creative and innovative tax planner.
Kurtis Bond has a tax practice that focuses on the Canadian resource sector and commercial transactions, including structured and cross-border financings, corporate reorganizations, partnerships and joint ventures. He brings a practical, solution-based approach to tax issues.
Craig Spurn joins McCarthy Tétrault’s Oil & Gas Group as a partner. Mr. Spurn practises corporate and commercial law in the energy sector with an emphasis on oil and gas law and energy transactions. Since 2007 he has been recognized as one of Canada’s leading energy lawyers focusing on oil and gas transactions by Chambers Global: The World’s Leading Lawyers for Business. His clients have included senior, mid-sized and junior Canadian and foreign energy companies, income funds, service and technology providers, and private capital firms.
Chris McLelland joins McCarthy Tétrault’s Oil & Gas Group as an associate. He practises corporate, commercial, oil and gas, and securities law, including corporate due diligence, reviewing asset and share purchase agreements, and drafting various corporate agreements.