Alberta Corporations Law Guide

Brent Kraus is Co-Head of Mergers & Acquisitions at Bennett Jones and focuses on the areas of public and private mergers and acquisitions, capital markets transactions, shareholder activism, securities and corporate governance matters. He has experience in a wide breadth of industries, including the oil and gas and related services sector, new energy ventures, natural resources, transportation and financial services. Brent has significant experience in domestic and cross-border mergers and acquisitions as well as debt and equity offerings on behalf of both issuers and underwriters. His corporate governance advisory work includes advising corporations, boards of directors and special committees with respect to general compliance matters as well as transaction-specific mandates.

Brent has led complex transactions, both contested and friendly, involving plans of arrangement, proxy contests, take-over bids and recapitalizations, including coordinating concurrent litigation and regulatory strategy.

Brent is recognized by Chambers Canada in Corporate/Commercial; the Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory as "Most Frequently Recommended" for each of Mergers & Acquisitions, Corporate Finance & Securities and Corporate Commercial Law; the Lexpert Guide to Leading U.S./Canada Cross-border Corporate Lawyers; The Legal 500 Canada as a Leading Lawyer in Capital Markets and M&A; Who's Who Legal Canada as a leading lawyer in Mergers & Acquisitions, Energy and Capital Markets; and by LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell.

Brent is also a member of the firm's Partnership Board and a former co-head of the firm's Capital Markets and Mergers & Acquisitions practice group. He is corporate secretary for several private companies.

Prior to joining Bennett Jones, he served as law clerk to Mr. Justice J.C. Major at the Supreme Court of Canada.

Bruce Hibbard practises corporate and securities law, with a particular emphasis on mergers and acquisitions, public and private capital markets offerings, investment funds and corporate/commercial issues.

Bruce acts for a diverse group of clients, including both public and private entities, mutual funds, hedge funds, private equity funds, venture capital funds, investment banks and exempt market dealers.

His practice includes advising issuers, investors and registrants with respect to business and fund formation, corporate reorganizations, private and public equity financings, take-over bids, plans of arrangement, initial public offerings, registration issues, share and asset acquisitions and divestitures and dispositions. He also advises companies on matters relating to securities regulation, corporate governance and continuous disclosure obligations.

Bruce was recognized as one of Canada's "Leading Lawyers under 40" in the 2016 edition of Lexpert's annual Rising Stars awards and in 2015 and 2017 was named a Corporate Lawyer to Watch in Lexpert's Guide to the Leading U.S./Canada Cross-Border Corporate Lawyers in Canada.

Bruce is a sessional professor at the University of Calgary, Faculty of Law teaching Mergers & Acquisitions. He has lectured or been a panelist on such topics as private placements, public offerings, hedge funds and alternative investments, limited partnerships, cross-border listings, buying and selling a business and representation and warranty insurance.

To complement his practice, Bruce has completed level two of the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants In-Depth Tax Course and has published a number of articles in respect of various corporate/commercial, securities and tax related matters.

Justin Lambert maintains a complex commercial litigation practice focusing on securities litigation, fraud recovery and energy disputes. A practical litigator, he works to align litigation with his clients’ broader strategic and business objectives.

Justin is frequently called upon to handle securities litigation matters including shareholder disputes, oppression claims, directors’ duties, corporate mergers, proxy solicitations and regulatory issues.

He also assists corporations and special committees in conducting internal investigations into whistleblower complaints. His experience includes investigating allegations such as insider trading, foreign corrupt practices, vendor kickbacks and misstatements in publicly released audited financial statements. These matters often require coordination with auditors, domestic regulators and cross-border collaboration with colleagues in other jurisdictions.

Justin helps clients trace, freeze and recover fraudulently misappropriated funds using various legal tools and court orders including court-appointed receivers. He has extensive experience tracing and recovering assets across provincial and international borders.

His energy litigation practice includes disputes over royalties, leases and ownership of interests in wells. He also assists clients in resolving conflicts related to industry-standard form operating agreements, leases and accounting procedures.

Beyond these areas, Justin advises clients on a wide range of commercial litigation matters. He has appeared before all levels of court in Alberta and has experience in both domestic and international arbitration.

Justin is also a founding board member of Brady’s Foundation for Pediatric Palliative Care, a charitable organization that provides financial and other assistance to families of children with rare life-limiting diseases and genetic conditions.

Jon Truswell's practice focuses primarily on domestic, cross-border and international mergers and acquisitions, public & private equity and debt financings, reporting issuer compliance, shareholder activism and critical situations, and restructurings and corporate governance.

Jon's principal area of practice focuses on domestic and cross-border mergers and acquisitions transactions, including going private transactions, acting for the acquirer, target and special committees. Jon also has significant corporate finance experience in public and private debt and equity financings in Canada and the U.S. In addition, Jon has experience in corporate reorganizations, restructuring and spin-outs; corporate governance; continuous disclosure; incentive compensation and general commercial transactions.

Jon has been recognized by Lexpert Guide to the Leading U.S./Canada Cross-border Corporate Lawyers in Canada as a Canadian corporate lawyer to watch, by Lexpert Report on Business Special Edition as a leading Canadian energy lawyer, and by Lexperts Rising Stars Leading Lawyers under 40.

Recently, Jon spent five years as the Chair and 10 years in total as a  member of the Board of Directors of Calgary's Prostate Cancer Centre. Jon is also a former Chair and a member of the Board of Governors of the Lindsay Park Sports Society, a not-for-profit society that manages and operates the MNP Community & Sports Centre (formerly the Repsol Sports Centre) in Calgary, Alberta.

Drew Broughton co-leads the firm's Corporate Department and practices in the areas of mergers and acquisitions, private equity, corporate finance and securities law.

Drew has extensive experience advising buyers and sellers with respect to merger and acquisitions transactions, both public and private, including Canadian and international takeover bids, plans of arrangement, distressed transaction, along with more straightforward asset and share purchase transactions. Acting for clients in the oil and gas, energy services, construction, agribusiness and technology industries, he is able to negotiate and complete both complex and simple merger and acquisition transactions. Drew has also acted in a number of private equity transactions, and works closely with private equity funds and companies to achieve synergies.

Drew has been involved in a number of public and private offerings of equity and debt securities, including initial public offerings, prospectus offerings, private placements and subscription receipts, acting for both issuers and underwriters. His corporate governance work includes advising clients on general compliance matters.

Drew is located in our Alberta offices, but has assisted clients based throughout Canada, in the United States and overseas.