DLA Piper (Canada) LLP welcomes five new partners

DLA Piper (Canada) LLP welcomes five additions to the partnership, effective January 1, 2022

“I congratulate the new additions to the partnership,” said Canada Managing Partner, Robert Seidel, Q.C., “Their professional accomplishments, legal excellence and dedication to client service have contributed greatly to the firm’s position as an industry leader and we are pleased to have them join the partnership. We look forward to accompanying them in their continued success.“

Tania Da Silva joined the firm in 2009 after the completion of her articles.‎ Since that time she has principally practised employment law and commercial litigation. Her employment law practice involves counselling both provincially and federally regulated employers ‎on a broad range of employment law matters. Tania regularly assists with the firm’s employment and labour publications as a member of the editorial team and is a frequent speaker at firm seminars. Tania’s litigation practice consists of representing clients in a wide range of civil suits. She has a strong class action practice acting exclusively as defence counsel, ‎specifically in competition law private actions, Civil Code of Quebec and Consumer Protection Act ‎actions.  Tania also routinely counsels clients on compliance with Quebec’s French language requirements, advises on Quebec privacy compliance issues‎, and drafts and reviews website contractual documents and e-commerce flows for compliance with Quebec’s Consumer Protection Act.‎

Dana Hooker joined the firm as Associate Counsel in 2016. She has extensive experience in assisting employers across a range of industries to achieve success in managing the complexities of today’s workplace. Dana has a broad employment practice, ranging from advisory work (including strategic advice and drafting support in employment, labour, workers’ compensation, occupational health and safety, human rights and privacy) to advocacy before administrative tribunals, labour arbitrators and the superior courts. Dana also has a strong transactional practice, providing labour and employment advice and guidance to employers acquiring or disposing of a business. She is a prolific contributor of employment articles with the firm and is a founding member of the Employment and Labour editorial committee. Dana regularly speaks at internal and external events on employment and labour matters as well as privacy issues.

Sydney Kert joined the firm’s Toronto office in 2017 as part of the Capital Markets group, with a practice focused on securities, corporate finance and mergers & acquisitions. She has extensive experience dealing with domestic and cross-border transactions, including public and private offerings of securities, go-public transactions, M&A transactions, as well as friendly and contested take-over bids and proxy contests. She has represented public and private companies in a broad range of industries, including technology, cannabis, cleantech, healthcare and telecommunications, as well as investment dealers and other providers of capital. Sydney is also a trusted advisor to issuer clients in connection with their day-to-day securities compliance, continuous disclosure and corporate governance matters and counsels issuers in dealing with provincial securities commissions and stock exchanges. 

Morgan McDonald joined the firm as Counsel at the beginning of 2020. Morgan’s practice is focussed on ‎assisting founders, startup and growth companies. She has considerable experience assisting clients with initial company formation and related shareholder and founder agreements, intellectual property creation and protection, obtaining growth ‎financing through private equity or venture capital avenues, commercial contracts and agreements to assist companies with creating and commercializing products and services.  Morgan’s clients range from the technology sector including software, gaming, ecommerce and related technology adjacent businesses, to consumer goods and services and ESG, to emerging markets including cannabis, psychedelics, artificial intelligence, and cloud computing. She provides counsel in Canada and in cross-border financings and transactions. Morgan is active in the startup community, partnering as a mentor with a number of accelerators and incubators ‎and speaking regularly to entrepreneurs.‎ During her time at the firm, Morgan, together with her colleagues, has launched the firm’s pro bono Black and Indigenous business law clinic.

Alan Sarhan joined the firm in 2019. He is a business lawyer with broad experience in corporate and commercial law, mergers & acquisitions, infrastructure law, global compliance and corporate investigations acquired both in-house and in private practice. He has worked on several high-profile international corruption cases and corporate investigations in Asia, Africa, Europe and North America and has advised numerous Canadian public and private corporations on matters relating to ethics and compliance. Alan has unique expertise with the integrity rules of various international financial institutions, including the World Bank Group, the African Development Bank, the Asian Development Bank and the European Investment Bank. In 2020, he was recognized as a Lawyer to Watch for corporate/commercial law by the Canadian Legal Lexpert® Directory. In 2013, he was named In-House Counsel of the Year Finalist by the Young Bar Association of Montreal. Alan is an Executive Committee Member of the Governance, Compliance and Ethics Section of the Canadian Bar Association (Quebec Branch).