Lara has been practising tax law for more than 25 years. Her practice focuses on advising major Canadian and international financial institutions and institutional investors on tax issues relating to capital markets products (including derivatives, securities lending, repos, prime brokerage and linked notes), corporate finance (including credit facilities and securitizations), pension plan investments, and merger and acquisition transactions.
Lara spent the majority of her career practising tax law at another large law firm. She then joined the Canada Revenue Agency, where she drafted advance income tax rulings and technical interpretations and provided advice to auditors in respect of capital markets, corporate finance and partnership issues. Lara worked closely with the federal Department of Finance on drafting and policy aspects of proposed tax legislation. She has also considered potential GAAR (general anti-avoidance rule) files as a member of the GAAR Committee.
Before joining Blakes, Lara was vice-president of tax planning and advisory at one of Canada's largest banks. She advised on legal and reputational risk issues, focusing on capital markets transactions. She collaborated with business partners in developing capital markets products and transactions and worked extensively with U.S. and U.K. taxation teams on capital markets issues. She also led significant tax litigation matters and worked closely with industry peers to consider legislative proposals.