Pamela L. Cross  

Pamela Cross is the Regional Leader of the Tax Group in the Ottawa office of Borden Ladner Gervais LLP. Her practice encompasses taxation, and estate and trust planning, as well as tax dispute resolution and voluntary disclosures of unpaid taxes. She regularly advises tax-exempt organizations (including charities, not-for-profit organizations and municipal corporations) on the tax implications of their transactions and activities. She also provides tax advice in connection with employee compensation matters and has a subspecialty in the taxation of pensions and tax exempt registered plans (RRSPs,/RRIFs TFSAs, RESPs and RDSPs,)

Pamela been qualified as an expert before the Ontario Superior Court of Justice and has provided expert testimony with respect to tax matters.

• Advised large Canadian pension master trust with respect to equity investments in the United States and the European Union.
• Structured unique stock based and employee compensation plans for Canadian and international clients.
• Negotiated a tax settlement with the Canada Revenue Agency with respect to offshore assets, including assets located in former Eastern European country repatriated in 1990.
• Regularly advises high net worth private clients with international interests or issues on appropriate estate, tax and trust planning, including drafting of wills, trusts and other ancillary documents.
• Represents corporate trustee in connection with post-mortem estate and corporate planning for complex estate which is a shareholder in several corporations with both Canadian and foreign holdings.
• Negotiated favourable advance tax ruling in connection with establishment of provincially funded deferred compensation healthcare plan.

• Speaker, "Advanced Tax Planning," Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners 14th Annual National Conference, June 11-12, 2012.
• Speaker, "Practical Approach to Common Practice Management Issues – An Interdisciplinary Approach," Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners 14th Annual National Conference, June 11-12, 2012.
• Author, "PRPPs: An Overview of Pooled Registered Pension Plans," Pension Planning, February 2012 (with Ryma Nasrallah).
• Author, "Determining the Character of Stock Option Surrender Payments in Canada," Tax Notes International, January 2012 (with Stephanie Wong).
• Speaker, "Retroactivity, Retrospectively and Backdating – Professional Responsibility Seminar," Ontario Bar Association, December 2011.
• Speaker, "Update 2011 – Legal Developments in the Not-for-Profit Sector," November 2011.
• Author, "Canada's New Tax Avoidance Transaction Reporting Regime," Association of Corporate Counsel, January 2011 (with Stephanie Wong).
• Speaker, "Income Tax Issues in Public Private Partnerships," 2009 Annual National Tax Conference, Canadian Tax Foundation, November 22-24, 2009.
• Contributor, The Canada-US Tax Treaty – Text and Commentary, LexisNexis Butterworths, 2004 (Author: Vern Krishna).
• Author, The Canada-UK Tax Treaty – Text and Commentary, LexisNexis Butterworths, 2005, and The Canada-India Tax Treaty – Text and Commentary, LexisNexis Butterworths, 2007 (with Vern Krishna).
• Speaker, "Topical Tax Tips for the Electricity Sector – Avoid a Shock," Canadian Electricity Association, September 2011 (with Danny Lang).
• Author, "Stock Option Surrender Payments made on Going Private Transaction Non-Deductible," International Law Office, April 2011 (with Stephanie Wong).
• Speaker, "Dealing with Multijurisdictional Trusts & Estates," Ontario Bar Association, April 2011.
• Speaker, "The Do's and Don'ts of Backdating," Ottawa Estate Planning Council, March 2011.
• Speaker, "Information Reporting of Tax Avoidance Transactions," BLG Tax Group, September, 2010.
• Presenter, Contract Law, Masters of Health Administration, University of Ottawa, March 2010.
• Panellist, Canada Revenue Agency Roundtable, Society of Trust and Estate Planners (STEP) Canada 11th National Conference, June 18-19, 2009.
• Speaker, Ontario Tax Conference (2007), the Canadian Tax Foundation Annual Tax Conference (2007) and STEP Canada's 10th National Conference (2008).

• Selected by peers for inclusion in the 2013 edition of The Best Lawyers in Canada® (Trusts and Estates).
• Recognized in the 2012 edition of The Canadian Legal Lexpert® Directory (Estate & Personal Tax Planning).
• Recipient of the Ottawa Business Journal's "Forty under 40" Award, 2006.