Modernizing the Role of Board of Directors & Senior Officers in Merger & Acquisition Management in 2016

Aaron Sonshine practises corporate and securities law with particular emphasis on corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions, private equity and corporate governance matters. In his M&A practice, Aaron advises acquirors and target companies involved in friendly and hostile takeover bids, plans of arrangement, reverse takeovers and other business combination transactions. In his corporate finance practice, Aaron represents issuers, securities dealers and institutional investors in a wide range of financing transactions, including IPOs, secondary offerings, private placements, and other forms of debt and equity financing. Aaron's corporate governance experience includes advising management and boards of directors on executive and board compensation, director and officer liability, and regulatory compliance matters.

Aaron is a member of the Ontario Bar Association, the Canadian Bar Association and the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada.

Prior to joining Bennett Jones, Aaron practised corporate and securities law at another major law firm in Toronto.

Norman is primarily engaged in securities law with an emphasis on public offerings of securities, mergers and acquisitions, and takeovers. His practice also involves private placements of debt and equity securities, mining law and general corporate transactions. Norman has been recognized by Lexpert as a leading practitioner in the mining finance area, and by The Best Lawyers in Canada in the Natural Resources Law area. He has also spoken at a number of conferences in Canada, South Africa and South America on topics relating to securities and mining law. Norman has acted as lead counsel for issuers and investment dealers in a number of significant financings and M&A transactions. 

Robert J Gavigan is a Partner at Cohen & Gresser LLP in the firm’s Corporate group. His practice focuses on domestic and international mergers and acquisitions, supply and distribution arrangements, secured and unsecured loan financings, venture capital investments, private placements, complex commercial joint ventures and alliances, and general corporate counseling.  He has substantial experience representing companies in the life science, healthcare, and consumer products industries.  Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Gavigan Mr. Gavigan spent more than a decade working in the oil and gas business in the Middle East, North Africa, the Asia-Pacific region, and South America in various petroleum engineering and management positions. He is a graduate of Georgetown University Law Center.

Steve Miller is the National Lead Partner for KPMG’s Integration/Separation Advisory practice in the United States and sits on the steering committee for the firm’s Global Integration/Separation Center of Excellence (CoE). He is a former NASA engineer, MBA and law graduate with 23 years of industry and advisory services experience including 19 years providing integration, separation, diligence and valuation support to over 200 deals. While working for ILC Space Systems and Lockheed, Steve designed tools/procedures to repair shuttle payloads in orbit and managed an advanced lunar/mars life support program. Upon returning to industry after graduate school, Steve began his deal career by working in international business development for Pennzoil and Unocal and leading the acquisition program for an industrial services firm executing a rollup strategy. Steve’s cross functional background allows him to jointly evaluate the complex  issues that impact multinational merger, acquisition and divestiture transactions.  His practice has executed many large corporate splits where their support to standing up the divested business includes the creation of new boards of directors.  Steve has experience living and working in multiple countries across Europe and Asia and across a range of industries including Aerospace & Defense, Medical Device, Energy, Technology, Pharma/Bio-Tech and Consumer Products.