Justin’s clients have diverse commercial interests, but he is principally involved in real estate matters, including the acquisition and management of complex real estate sites and portfolios by retailers, private equity actors and families/family offices, and corporate affairs, including entity and joint venture formation and governance and share and asset acquisitions, dispositions and reorganizations.
Ancillary to these core matters, Justin’s clients' various interests include: real estate financings; retail, industrial and office lease projects; environmental risk management; the sale and transportation of fuel; the implementation of alternative retail models; supply and distribution matters; foreign investment (Investment Canada Act) compliance matters; contractual relationship formation and interpretation in all kinds of commercial contexts; the management of labour and employment matters; and the management and distillation of contentious/litigious matters.
Having worked with numerous clients around the world (Canada, United States, Japan and Europe), Justin is a trusted advisor who tailors to his clients needs from being able to triage legal issues, distill issues to their business essence, problem solve by offering workable solutions and to provide general risk mitigation counsel. Justin works hard to become a valued part of an organization’s decision making structure.
Justin joined Davis & Company (the predecessor of DLA Piper (Canada) LLP) in 2000 upon his completion of law school. From 2008-2009, he practised as a Senior Associate in London, UK, in the Mergers and Acquisitions and Funds Structuring Practice Groups for a major international law firm. While there, Justin received qualifications to practise law in England and Wales. His impact and achievements led him to be named a Lexpert® Rising Star: Leading Lawyer Under 40 in 2012.
Currently, Justin is an active member of DLA Piper (Canada) LLP’s Equity and Diversity Committee. Outside of his work at the firm, he also sits on the Board of Directors for a number of his clients. Justin is a founding Director of both the East Coast Connected and the Richmond Hill Philharmonic Orchestra and was a former Chair of the board for the latter as well as of Arraymusic. In addition, Justin is also a member of the board of The Metro Toronto Convention Centre and has just completed a term as Chair of the Toronto Grant Review Team of the Ontario Trillium Foundation, a role in which involved distributing large amounts of funding to not-for-profit organizations in Ontario. Justin was also involved for a number of years with Trailblazers, an organization that takes visually impaired people on tandem bike rides.
In his spare time, Justin travels extensively for both business and personal purposes.
