Canadian Lawyer

October 2020

The most widely read magazine for Canadian lawyers

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www.canadianlawyermag.com 33 "The old idea of throwing a football team of lawyers on a transaction is being replaced by using a few lawyers and working more effi- ciently," he says. As well, Gill says, there is more emphasis these days on not just working with a firm, but with a lawyer or team of lawyers. "We are always getting the question 'If we retain you, who am I working with? We want to hire you, not just the firm'," he says. Wildeboer Dellelce LLP Toronto, ON wildlaw.ca With more than 15 transactions completed between April and June, says Perry Dellelce, senior partner at Wildeboer Dellelce, judging from the work it was doing, it barely felt that Canada — like the rest of the world — was in the midst of the biggest pandemic since the Spanish Flu outbreak of 1918. "People wanted capital and the markets have just been so buoyant," he says, "and I don't think we were unique in seeing that." Things have been so busy that the Toronto- based firm has been able to keep all its arti- cling students on full-time, notwithstanding COVID-19. "I can tell you that we're very fortunate that demand is certainly exceeding supply," he says. "We have way more work than we can do, and that's a good feeling." With about 60 legal professionals, Wildeboer Dellelce offers private and public clients advice in a multitude of categories in corporate law: asset management and investment funds; corporate and commer- cial transactions; corporate finance and securities; corporate governance and investor activism; debt products; entertain- ment, media (e)sports and gaming; exec- utive compensation; mergers and acquisi- tions, private equity and venture capital; real estate; regulatory matters and compliance; and working with startups and emerging companies. "I know we're considered a boutique law firm, but I like to consider ourselves as being a focused law firm," Dellelce says. The firm works across all traditional industries, such as financial services, auto- motive, technology, life sciences, health care and pharmaceuticals, agribusiness, food and beverage, industrial and consumer goods and mining, energy and natural resources. But it has also been recognized, Dellelce says, for its work in new and emerging markets, including cannabis and fintech. Recently, the firm has acted for Nest Wealth Asset Management in its expanded partnership with the National Bank of Canada. As well, it acted for Sangoma Technologies in its $81-million public offering and helped Bridgeway National acquire Input Capital for $97.5 million. In addition, it acted for Mind Medicine (MindMed) Inc. — which is looking into the medical potential of psychedelic drugs such as LSD — in listing on the NEO Exchange, as well as securing a $32-million private place- ment for the company. In the mining sector, Wildeboer Dellelce represented Caldas Gold in its $54-million acquisition of South American Resources and a $50-million private placement offering and represented Gran Colombia Gold in merging with Guyana Goldfields and Gold X to create a high-growth, Latin American- focused intermediate gold producer. The transition to remote working during the pandemic went very smoothly, Dellelce says, as most staff had already been on a program of working from home one day a week. As for communicating with clients during the pandemic, the firm instituted a "20-10" program, where lawyers were expected to call 20 clients within 10 days, by phone or video, just to keep in touch and see how they were doing. The firm is planning to do this again in the fall, but this time it will be trying to connect with clients in a public place in a socially distanced way. "You can't take people out to dinners or hockey or basketball games, but we want to ensure the ongoing contact continues."

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