Leanne M. Williams

Bio

Leanne is a member of TGF’s restructuring and insolvency practice group and is a recognized leader in insolvency law. Leanne’s practice includes a variety of mandates, including workouts, refinancing, receiverships, bankruptcies, debtor protection and the enforcement of creditors’ rights. Leanne represents both debtors and financial institutions across a broad spectrum of industries, and she also represents court officers such as trustees in bankruptcy, receivers and CCAA monitors.

As an experienced insolvency lawyer, Leanne is known for her collaborative and innovative approaches to resolving complex legal challenges. Her clients commend her strategic thinking and business expertise as keys to her success in the industry, often in ground-breaking mandates that set new precedents.

Leanne is a passionate leader of and advocate for the practice of restructuring and insolvency law. She has been repeatedly recognized by Chambers Canada and Chambers Global as a legal leader for Restructuring and Insolvency, has been named a “Thought Leader” by Who's Who Legal and as a leading practitioner by The Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory and Expert Guides for restructuring and insolvency. Leanne is also a co-author of Lexology and International Financial Law Review (IFLR), and served as the President of the Toronto Chapter of the Turnaround Management Association.

Outside of her practice, Leanne is an active community leader and regularly engages with local and national community organizations as part of TGF’s ongoing social responsibility endeavours. Leanne also plays a role in building the culture of the firm through its recruitment and development initiatives, and is an active mentor.

Representative mandates

• Counsel to the Trustee in Bankruptcy of Aiden Pleterski (and his related corporation), the self-proclaimed Crypto King who has been charged with defrauding investors out of millions of dollars.

• Counsel to the Court-appointed Receiver of the Peace Bridge Duty Free Inc., the operator of the duty free store on the Fort Erie bridge to the United States.

• Canadian counsel to the Unsecured Creditors’ Committee in the US Chapter 11 proceeding and Canadian recognition proceeding of Nevada Cooper Inc.

• Counsel to the Pride Group in their CCAA proceedings, which have been recognized under Chapter 15 of the US Bankruptcy Code. The Pride Group is a trucking and logistics conglomerate that operates across Canada and the United States and is undergoing a restructuring of its secured liabilities in excess of $1.6 billion, involving over 20 lending institutions. 

• Counsel to FTI Consulting Canada Inc. as court-appointed monitor of Fire & Flower Holdings Corp. and its affiliates pursuant to the CCAA.

• Counsel to Carriage Hills and Carriage Ridge timeshare resorts in their Court-supervised restructuring involving over 30,000 timeshare members.

• Counsel to debtors Sproutly, Inc. and Toronto Herbal Remedies Inc. in their restructuring and asset sale under the CCAA.

• Counsel to the Unsecured Creditors' Committee in the US Chapter 11 proceeding of Bumble Bee and the Canadian CCAA proceedings of Clover Leaf.

• Counsel to Business Development Bank of Canada in the CCAA proceedings of North American Fur Auctions.

• Counsel to Stantive Technologies Group in their CCAA proceedings.

• Counsel to JTI-Macdonald Corp., one of the largest tobacco companies in Canada, in its proceedings under the CCAA with a goal to achieve a global resolution of the myriad of litigation claims against it exceeding $500 billion. The two other largest tobacco companies have also filed for CCAA protection resulting in unprecedented industry-wide proceedings.

• Counsel to BDC Capital Inc. in the Quebec CCAA restructuring of BioAmber Inc., a sustainable chemicals company.

• Counsel to Whirlpool Canada in the CCAA restructuring of Sears Canada.

• Counsel to BDO Canada Limited as court-appointed receiver of Emmanuel Village Residence Inc.

• Represented Endurance Energy Ltd. in connection with its proceedings under the CCAA, an Alberta-based oil and gas production company, which successfully sold its assets as part of its restructuring efforts.

• Counsel to the court-appointed monitor of the Mobilicity group of companies.

• Advisor to U.S. Steel in the restructuring of U.S. Steel Canada.

• Counsel to the syndicate of lenders to Allen-Vanguard Corporation, a publicly-traded international military defense corporation, during its restructuring through the CCAA and recapitalization as a private entity.

• Counsel to Flextronics Corporation, Nortel’s largest supplier and significant creditor, during the CCAA restructuring of Nortel.

• Represented Hollinger and certain of its subsidiaries in its CCAA filing in Canada.

• Advisor to the court-appointed monitor of AbitibiBowater.

• Represented the monitor of a retailer, Athletes World, in its restructuring and successful Plan of Arrangement under the CCAA.

• Counsel to the court-appointed Interim Receiver of Mosaic Group, a cross-border marketing and technology company, during the liquidation of its assets for the benefit of its creditors.

• Represented the largest secured creditor of Canada 3000 during the liquidation of the airline’s assets.

• Counsel to the largest unsecured creditor of Irwin Toy during the liquidation of its assets.