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About Linc

Linc acts as a lead advisor to key stakeholders in some of Canada's most complex domestic and cross-border restructurings, distressed acquisitions and distressed financings.

Linc gained insights into cross-border mandates as a key member of the Blakes U.S. initiative team, having relocated to the United States from 2004 to 2007 to assist in establishing our U.S. presence. Upon his return to Toronto, Linc developed a leading restructuring practice with a particular focus on cross-border matters. In addition to acting for a broad cross section of domestic clients, Linc is routinely retained by foreign based lenders, corporations and private equity and hedge funds to provide strategic and legal advice for some of their most complicated multi-jurisdictional mandates.

Linc is also a leading contributor to continuing legal education. He has published extensively in scholarly journals and trade publications for over two decades and, by invitation, now sits on the Editorial Advisory Board of the Annual Review of Insolvency Law, Canada's leading insolvency law publication. In addition to speaking extensively on a variety of insolvency law topics, many of his speaking engagements address diversity issues in the legal profession. Linc has been recognized for his pioneering accomplishments in this area.

Linc is a member of the Legal Personnel Committee.

Select Experience

Recent engagements in which Linc acted as lead or co-lead restructuring counsel include acting for:

  • DCL Corporation in connection with its cross-border restructuring proceedings (manufacturing)

  • Junior DIP Lender in connection with the cross-border recognition proceedings of Yellow Corporation (transportation)

  • LTL Management LLC in connection with its cross-border recognition proceedings (pharmaceutical/mass tort)

  • The court-appointed information officer in the cross-border recognition proceedings for Voyager Digital (crypto-currency)

  • The auditor in the CannTrust restructuring proceedings (cannabis/class action securities litigation)

  • The court-appointed information officer in the cross-border recognition proceedings of Knotel Inc. (real estate)

  • The UK incorporated All Saints USA in its cross-border recognition proceedings (retail)

  • syncreon Group B.V. and its Canadian affiliates in its cross-border recognition proceedings (logistics) (Turnaround Management Association International Company Transaction of the Year 2020)

  • The purchaser in the receivership proceedings of Genesis Integration (technology/reverse vesting order)

  • The purchaser in the restructuring proceedings of FIGR and Canada's Island Garden (cannabis/reverse vesting order)

  • The court-appointed monitor in the insolvency proceedings of JTI-Macdonald Corp. (manufacturing/mass tort)

Awards & Recognition

Linc is an experienced insolvency lawyer recognized in the following publications, particularly for his extensive Canada/U.S. cross-border work and lead role on large transactions:

  • The Legal 500 Canada – 2021–2024 (Restructuring and Insolvency)

  • Who's Who Legal: Thought Leaders – 2021–2024 (Restructuring & Insolvency)

  • The Lexpert/American Lawyer Guide to the Leading 500 Lawyers in Canada – 2020–2024 (Insolvency & Financial Restructuring)

  • Chambers Global: The World's Leading Lawyers for Business – 2020–2024 (Restructuring/Insolvency)

  • Chambers Canada: Canada's Leading Lawyers for Business – 2019–2024 (Restructuring/Insolvency)

  • The Best Lawyers in Canada – 2019–2024 (Insolvency and Financial Restructuring Law)

  • The Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory – 2018–2024 (Insolvency & Financial Restructuring – Financial Restructuring)

  • IFLR1000: The Guide to the World's Leading Financial and Corporate Law Firms – 2022–2023 (Restructuring and Insolvency)

  • Who's Who Legal: Global – 2022–2023 (Restructuring & Insolvency)

  • Who's Who Legal: Canada – 2019–2023 (Restructuring & Insolvency)

  • Benchmark Canada: The Definitive Guide to Canada's Leading Litigation Firms and Attorneys 2021

  • Lexpert Magazine, November/December 2012 (named a "Lexpert Rising Star," honouring Canada's leading lawyers under 40)

Professional Activities

Linc is a member of the Insolvency Institute of Canada, a limited-number, invitation-only association of Canada's most accomplished senior insolvency professionals, and serves on its Membership Committee. In addition, he is currently serving on the board of directors of the Toronto chapter of the Turnaround Management Association. He is also a member of the corporate advisory board of the Canadian Association of Urban Financial Professionals ("CAUFP") which is dedicated to the advancement of professionals of colour within the financial services industry.  Linc acts as CAUFP's pro bono counsel.

Publications
Professional Appearances
  • Panellist : Restructuring and Insolvency: A Cross-Country Year in Review
    Blakes Business Class Seminar, Toronto, Ontario, January 25, 2024.
  • Moderator : Set-Off Rights – Where Are We Now
    Insolvency Institute of Canada Annual Conference, Ottawa, Ontario, October 21, 2023.
  • Panellist : Building a Book of Business
    Insolvency Insider Future Leaders Conference, Toronto, Ontario, October 10, 2023.
  • Panellist : Chapter 15 Update/Recognition Issues
    Caribbean Insolvency Symposium, American Bankruptcy Institute, Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands, February 7, 2023.
  • Panellist : Restructuring and Insolvency: A Cross-Country Year in Review
    Blakes Business Class Seminar, Toronto, Ontario, January 17, 2023.
  • Panellist : Canada/U.S. Legal Update Seminar Series: Restructuring and Insolvency
    Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP Webinar, September 22, 2022.
  • Co-chair : Annual Review of Insolvency Law Virtual Conference
    Canadian Association of Insolvency and Restructuring Professionals, February 4, 2022.
  • Moderator : Leap Forward: The Future of Work
    Annual Review of Insolvency Law Virtual Conference, February 4, 2022.
  • Panellist : Insolvency and Technology
    Osgoode Bankruptcy & Insolvency Club Webinar, February 2, 2022.
  • Moderator : Restructuring 2022: National and International Trends
    Fireside chat with Mahesh Uttamchandani, Global Manager for Financial Inclusion & Infrastructure at the World Bank Group, Blakes Business Class Webinar, January 26, 2022.
  • Moderator : Paving the Way: Black Professionals on Corporate Boards
    Black@Blakes Webinar, November 10, 2021.
  • Panellist : Q3 2021: A (Not So) Quiet Quarter?
    Insolvency Insider Webinar, November 2021.
  • Speaker : Diversity in the Practise of Law
    Commercial List Users’ Committee Virtual Seminar, June 2, 2021.
  • Moderator : Moving Past the Pandemic
    TMA Toronto Virtual Symposium, Turnaround Management Association, May 27, 2021.
Media Activities
  • Interviewed : Hockey May Be Canada’s Sport but This Week Basketball Is a Slam Dunk for One Canadian Law Firm
    Article by Gail Cohen, Law.com International, March 14, 2023.
  • Interviewed : Annual ‘Blakes Madness’ basketball-themed networking social set for Thursday tipoff
    Article by Zena Olijnyk, Law Times, March 13, 2023.
  • Interviewed : Celebrating Black History Month
    Article by Talayah Goodlow, Turnaround Management Association, March 2023.
  • Quoted : Pandemic takes a bite out of celebrity chef Mark McEwan’s culinary empire
    Article by Barbara Shecter, Financial Post, October 8, 2021.
  • Interviewed : Walking the Walk
    Journal of Corporate Renewal, September 2021.
  • Quoted : Cannabis producer secures CCAA plan
    Article by Dominic Lawson, Global Restructuring Review, July 20, 2021.
  • Quoted : Why more companies are turning to reverse vesting orders, especially in the cannabis sector
    Article by Jaren Kerr, The Globe and Mail, May 24, 2021.
Education

Admitted as a Foreign Legal Consultant in the State of Illinois – 2005
Admitted to the Ontario Bar – 2000
LLB (Magna Cum Laude), University of Ottawa – 1998
MA, International Affairs, Norman Paterson School of International Affairs – 1998
BA, Political Science, University of Alberta – 1994

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