Bruce A. Lawrence  

Bruce Lawrence is a Partner in our Securities and Capital Markets Group, and is the National Chair of our Oil and Gas Focus Group. Based in Calgary, Bruce has practised in the corporate/commercial area since 1982, with an emphasis on clients involved in the natural resources sector. The bulk of his practice involves corporate and securities transactions with exposure to numerous public and private financings, mergers, acquisitions, take-over bids and plans of arrangement. Bruce is also involved in oil sands and off-shore oil and gas development.

In addition to his work with the natural resource sector, Bruce is involved in all of the various aspects surrounding franchising.

• Initial Public Offerings and Secondary Offerings involving, amongst other securities, trust units, common shares, preferred shares, exchangeable shares, warrants, limited partnership units, special warrants and debt securities of up to $1 billion.
• Mergers, acquisitions and take-over bids (friendly and hostile) involving private and public companies, several with transaction sizes in excess of $1 billion.
• Plans of arrangement of all types, including conventional take-over bids, mergers, trust conversions, public newco spin-outs and cross-border take-over bids utilizing exchangeable shares, with typical enterprise values of between $25 million and $1.5 billion.
• Significant numbers of private placements in all provinces of Canada and in the United States, with subscription proceeds ranging up to $6 billion.
• Provide advice on all aspects of franchise operations including management, financing and the preparation and review of franchise offering documents and agreements.
• Provide counsel on all aspects of corporate governance, including the creation of internal policies regarding reserve committees, audit committees and insider trading, as well as acting as counsel to special and independent committees.
• Day-to-day corporate activities, including stock-option plan preparation and grants, board meeting attendances and counsel, and contract review and drafting.
• All aspects of conventional and frontier oil & gas operations (ranging from routine lease acquisitions and interpretations, area acquisitions and dispositions, to facilities construction, ownership and operation agreement negotiation and finalization).
• Provide counsel on various oil sands initiatives (including acquisitions, ownership and management, as well as negotiating and finalizing supply, transportation and sales contracts of bitumen and refined products, and operational contracts involving the construction, ownership and operation of mining and refining co-generation facilities).
• Sale and licensing of both on- and off-shore seismic data and seismic companies.
• Purchase and sale of hard-rock mining interests and companies.

• Has lectured and participated as a panel member at numerous conferences and seminars (including forums such as Toronto Stock Exchange-sponsored seminars, the Bar Admission course, and society groups such as the Canadian Investor Relations Institute).
• Has delivered many papers on commercial topics such as public offerings, public disclosure obligations, directors’ liabilities, and contentious shareholder meetings.

• Martindale-Hubbell® BV® Distinguished™ 4.4 out of 5 Peer Review Rated.