Bill Kaplan practises in civil litigation with a practice focus on corporate/commercial matters, insolvency law, real estate and securities matters. He has litigated on the full range of matters relating to commercial relationships and corporate governance issues, including contractual disputes, tort matters, shareholders' remedies litigation, directors' liability issues, insurance law, real estate law and intellectual property litigation. He is also extensively experienced in restructuring and insolvency matters, including security enforcement, domestic and cross-border insolvency restructurings, bankruptcy matters and debt restructuring. He has been engaged in an array of alternate dispute resolution contexts, including both commercial and labour arbitration and numerous mediations.

Bill has appeared before all levels of the court system in British Columbia, the Supreme Court of Canada and numerous administrative tribunals and private arbitration panels.

Representative Cases

• Successful defence of the Vendor of the Vancouver Canucks Hockey Team and arena in an action by an unsuccessful potential purchase of real assets seeking to overturn the sale transaction
• Acting as Canadian counsel for the term lenders to Pope & Talbot Inc. in its CCAA/Chapter 11 proceeding
• Acting for a large international pharmaceutical company in its take-over bid proceedings of a Canadian publicly traded pharmaceutical company
• Acting as litigation counsel in the plan of arrangement proceedings related to Ainsworth Lumber Co.
• Counsel for Stornaway Diamonds Ltd. with respect to litigation matters related to a successful take-over bid of Ashton Mining Ltd.
• Counsel for ID Biomedical in a successful defence of a tort claim by former shareholders related to its Plan of Arrangement with GlaxoSmithKline Inc.
• Counsel for the Secured Lenders in the cross-border CCAA/Chapter 11 proceedings related to Mahalo Energy Ltd.
• Counsel for the liquidation of Commonwealth Trust Company in Liquidation
• Counsel for the acquisition lender Edgewater Casino (CCAA Reorganization proceedings)
• Counsel for Cactus Club Restaurants Ltd. in its successful defence of a real estate related claim by a landlord and prosecution of intellectual property claims against a former director
• Counsel for Syndicate of Lenders to 360Networks Inc. (CCAA reorganization proceedings)
• Counsel for PriceWaterhouseCoopers, as monitor of Xillix Technologies Corp. et al. (CCAA reorganization proceedings)
• Counsel for Ernst & Young Inc., as monitor for Pine Valley Mining Corporation et al. (CCAA reorganization proceedings)
• Counsel for KPMG, trustee of New Home Warranty Program Inc. (proposal pursuant to the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act)

Bill has been recognized as leading counsel in a number of publications including:

• Law Business Research's Who's Who Legal: Canada 2010
• Law Business Research's The International Who's Who of Insolvency & Restructuring Lawyers (2010-2011)
• Law Business Research's The International Who's Who of Insolvency & Restructuring Lawyers (2009-2010)
• Law Business Research's The International Who's Who of Business Lawyers in the area of Insolvency & Restructuring (2009-2010)
• The Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory in the area of Litigation - Corporate Commercial Law (2006-2010)
• The Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory in the area of Insolvency & Financial Restructurings (2006-2010)
• The Best Lawyers in Canada in the area of Corporate Commercial Litigation (2007-2010)
• The Best Lawyers in Canada in the area of Insolvency and Financial Restructuring (2007-2010)
• Chambers Global: The World’s Leading Lawyers for Business in the area of Dispute Resolution (2010)
• The Lexpert/American Lawyer Guide to the Leading 500 Lawyers in Canada (2009)
• Legal Media Group’s IFLR1000: The Guide to the World's Leading Financial Law Firms as a leading lawyer in Canada in the area of Restructuring and Insolvency (2008-2009)
• Law Business Research's The International Who's Who of Insolvency & Restructuring Lawyers (2009)

Bill is a member of Insolvency Institute of Canada and is on the board of directors of the Deans Advisory Committee to the National Centre for Business Law.

Bill is active in educational programs within the profession. He is an adjunct professor of law at the University of British Columbia, where he currently instructs a negotiations workshop. He has previously taught in the areas of administrative and labour law, and has taught a negotiations course in the University of British Columbia Faculty of Commerce executive program. Bill is also a past chairman and a member of the board of directors of the Continuing Legal Education Society of British Columbia. He has appeared as a lecturer/instructor at Continuing Legal Education seminars, Canadian Institute programs, Insight programs and various industry association meetings and conferences in the areas of civil litigation, bankruptcy and insolvency law.