Burnet Duckworth & Palmer LLP

Managing Partner: Alicia Quesnel

Chair: John Brussa

Number of partners: 71

Number of lawyers: 126

Firm Overview: 

The world is changing, and it’s happening faster than ever. Businesses and people are adapting, but nobody can do it alone. Maybe it’s easier for BD&P to keep up because they have always been nimble and brought creative thinking to the way they practice the law.

BD&P is a full-service boutique law firm headquartered in Calgary, Canada. The firm's lawyers are bright, deeply talented legal minds who work on a broad spectrum of corporate and litigation matters, sitting across the table from national and international firms. Burnet Duckworth & Palmer's clients live a variety of sectors, including energy, renewables, agribusiness, technology and life sciences.

BD&P are not just legal advisors, they are true partners. BD&P have been called unconventional, and they think that makes the firm better partners to their clients for now — and for the future.

Practice Areas:

Agribusiness, Food and Beverage, Aviation, Banking and Finance, Capital Markets, Commercial Arbitration, Commercial Litigation, Commercial Real Estate, Commercial Transactions, Competition and Foreign Investment, Corporate/M&A Construction, Employment and Labour, Energy, Estate Litigation, Franchises, Government Relations, Infrastructure and Project Development, Intellectual Property, Occupational Health and Safety, Personal Injury, Power and Renewable Energy, Regulatory, Restructuring and Insolvency, Tax, Technology, Wills and Estates

Main Areas of Practice:

Banking and Finance 

BD&P's experience extends from domestic transactions to cross-border financings, including project finance and restructurings, across a broad spectrum of industries. The team advises on complex financial transactions, developing and implementing innovative financing strategies and advising on strategic business opportunities on behalf of lenders and borrowers.

Capital Markets 

The team is widely recognized for its significant depth in public offerings and private placements. The lawyers have a wealth of experience providing guidance on all types of domestic and cross-border financings, including private placements and public offerings of both debt and equity, for all types of issuers, including corporations, trusts and partnerships.

Corporate/M&A 

The group has extensive expertise in domestic and international transactions, representing acquirers, targets and financial advisors on takeover bids, plans of arrangement and mergers and acquisitions. The team routinely advises on corporate governance and shareholder activism matters, including hostile take-over bids, voting and proxy disagreements, disputes, insider trading issues and directors’ and officers’ liability issues.

Commercial Real Estate 

The team understands the economics and practicalities of the diversified commercial real estate business and offers responsive legal guidance and solutions on all aspects of commercial real estate matters, including ownership, development, construction, financing and leasing.

Construction 

The firm provides strategic advice on all aspects of construction projects, including risk management, bidding, drafting and interpreting contracts, submitting or defending insurance claims, registering and removing builder’s liens, and mediating, arbitrating, or litigating claims.

Dispute Resolution 

BD&P's litigators have a wealth of experience in handling complex commercial litigation in a wide range of business disputes. They are highly skilled in class action suits, as well as in domestic mediation and arbitration. They are also one of Canada’s leading firms when it comes to the rapidly developing areas of international commercial arbitration and investor-state arbitration.

Employment and Labour 

The team advises employers, employees and unions on all aspects of employment and labour law, including matters related to labour relations, policy and procedure development, employee dismissal and terminations, labour standards and collective bargaining.

Energy 

The firm has a long history of providing innovative legal advice in the energy sector, including on domestic and international energy and related infrastructure projects and transactions, joint ventures, alliances and mergers and acquisitions. The team attracts top-level work from a broad array of clients, ranging from multinational corporations to private companies and private equity investors.

Infrastructure and Project Development 

BD&P advises on domestic and international infrastructure projects and transactions. The lawyers' project development experience is as diverse as the industries in which their clients operate, and includes petrochemical facilities, power and renewables (electricity, natural gas, wind, solar and hydro), oil and gas production and processing facilities, pipelines, LNG terminals, rail, telecoms and technology.

Regulatory 

The regulatory lawyers act as counsel in regulatory appeals and judicial review applications before the Courts and provide guidance on all aspects of oil and gas and electricity regulatory proceedings, including projects subject to federal and/or provincial environmental assessment legislation.

Restructuring and Insolvency 

The team is at the forefront of complex restructuring and insolvency work, and is adept at meeting the pressing demands of corporate clients, financial institutions, and other stakeholders in times of business and financial distress. They advise stakeholders in formal and informal insolvency proceedings, work-outs and restructurings, DIP financing, exit financing, acquisitions, corporate governance, cross-border insolvencies and post-restructuring issues.

Tax 

The team advises on the tax aspects of business transactions including on acquisitions, divestitures, reorganizations and restructurings, securities and corporate finance, aboriginal organizations, pension funds, private equity, energy, employment and real estate. BD&P has created and implemented innovative tax-assisted financing vehicles, including the first use of royalty trusts in a public financing context.

Technology 

The firm has expertise in the legal and commercial aspects of technology law, including technology development, protection, marketing and transfer. The group advises on matters including copyright, intellectual property, licensing, patents and trademarks.

Office

Canada 

2400, 525 - 8th Avenue S.W.

Calgary, Alberta T2P 1G1

P: 403.260.0100

F: 403.260.0332