Commercial Real Estate Leases

Drafting and negotiating leases to get the best deal
Jordan Slatt

Dealing with operating cost issues
Lisa A. Borsook

Assignment and sublease negotiations
William A. Rowlands

Incentives and inducements for landlords and tenants
Christina Kobi

Environment concerns in leasing
Janet L. Bobechko

Sheldon Disenhouse is the Department Head of the Real Estate group at Goodman and Carr LLP, specializing in commercial leasing and franchising. He acts on behalf of developers, landlords, tenants, franchisors and franchisees, and has extensive experience in drafting and negotiating leases, franchise agreements and related ancillary documentation. His experience extends to general corporate matters including the drafting and negotiation of shareholders agreements, agreements of purchase and sale, and other corporate documentation. He has spoken at numerous conferences on a variety of commercial leasing and franchising issues. He is listed in The Canadian Legal Directory LEXPERT as a leading practitioner in the area of commercial leasing, in the LEXPERT/American Lawyer Guide To The Leading 500 Lawyers in Canada, and The Best Lawyers in Canada.™

Kenneth A. Beallor is a Partner with the law firm of Goodman and Carr LLP in Toronto practicing Commercial Real Estate law. He specializes in all aspects of commercial leasing and the sale, acquisition and financing of commercial property. He is recognized by Lexpert as a leading lawyer in commercial leasing. Prior to joining Goodman and Carr, he was Legal Counsel for the Tim Hortons restaurant chain responsible for the sale and acquisition of commercial property, leasing and other real estate and development related legal matters in Ontario. He is actively involved with the International Council of Shopping Centers and has lectured at numerous events and has lectured at Sheridan College on commercial leasing law. He has authored numerous articles on commercial leasing, was a contributing editor to "Landlord's Rights and Remedies in a Commercial Lease, A Practical Guide", and has been a past consultant to Canada Law Book's consolidations of Ontario Landlord and Tenant legislation.

Since joining WeirFoulds LLP (one of the top ten mid-sized law firms in Central Canada) in 1982, Lisa has risen to the upper ranks in its management, as well as in her practice areas of property development and commercial leasing. She is currently the Managing Partner of the firm, as well as the chairperson of its Commercial Leasing Practice Group. She is also a member of the Business Law Practice Group, Women Lawyers Group and Infrastructure and Public Projects Practice Group at WeirFoulds LLP. Lisa has extensive experience in commercial real estate matters with particular emphasis on sophisticated leasing and property development issues. She has been recognized as a leading practitioner by LEXPERT® and named one of the best lawyers in Canada in her practice area by Best Lawyers in Canada. Lisa contributes extensively to legal and scholarly publications, is a regular speaker at legal conferences and an accomplished author. The firm was recently ranked #1 in real estate law in Toronto and Ontario by Best Lawyers in Canada.

William (Bill) A. Rowlands is a partner with the law firm of Lang Michener where he currently is the chair of the firm's commercial real estate group. Received an LL.B from Queen's University in 1982 and was called to the Ontario Bar in 1984. Specializes in commercial real estate, with particular emphasis on leasing, acting for both landlords and tenants. Has presented papers at continuing education and professional seminars sponsored by the Ontario Bar Association, the Law Society of Upper Canada, the International Council of Shopping Centers and others. Recognized as a leading leasing practitioner in Lexpert's 2006 Legal Directory. Counsel to the Leasing Committee of RealPac (Real Property Association of Canada) which was assembled to develop a standard form of commercial office lease. Principal Editor of O'Brien's Encyclopedia of Forms, Leases Division, a leading Canadian resource for leasing documents. Contributor to Title Insurance, A Guide to Regulation, Coverage and Claims Process in Ontario. Volunteer with North Toronto Hockey Association including past House League Chair.

Jordan Slatt is President of LDC Logistics Development Corporation. A Chartered Accountant, he has over eighteen years of experience as a senior executive of logistics and real estate companies. LDC specializes in the acquisition and development of warehouses over 100,000 square feet. The company's objective is to provide the best space at the lowest long-term gross occupancy cost. In addition to traditional real estate development, LDC also uses financing strategies, energy saving systems, and warehouse retrofits to achieve its goals. Over the past twelve months, he has been responsible for transactions of over 1.5 million square feet of warehouse space across Canada. Jordan presents and consults on many topics relating to logistics and warehouse real estate.

Background:

Undergraduate: Hon. B.Sc., University of Toronto (Trinity College)

Law School: LL.B., University of Toronto

Year of Call: 1997

Year Joined the Firm: 2003

Areas of Practice:

Corporate Leasing; Commercial Leasing; Corporate/Commercial

Christina is a partner in the Commercial Leasing Group. She acts as counsel to landlords, tenants, developers, property managers, franchisors and franchisees. Christina has extensive experience in drafting and negotiating leases and related ancillary documentation. Her practice also includes assisting in due diligence issues on the acquisition of real estate.

Professional Activities:

Christina has been active as a guest lecturer and round table leader at conferences sponsored by the Canadian Bar Association, Osgoode Hall Law School Development Programme, Law Society of Upper Canada (including The Six-Minute Commercial Leasing Lawyer (2004 and 2006)) and the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC). She is a frequent contributor to leasing publications such as the Shopping Centre Newsletter, the Commercial Real Estate Section of the Legal Alert published by Insight Press. Christina co-authored the chapter entitled "The Distress Process - Exercising the Remedy" in Distress - A Commercial Landlord's Remedy (Canada Law Book, 2001) and the Property Leasing articles for The Canadian Legal LEXPERT Directory (1999 - 2002, 2004 - 2006) and American Lawyer Media Guide to the Leading 500 Lawyers in Canada.

Affiliations:

Canadian Bar Association

Law Society of Upper Canada

International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC)

Toronto Commercial Real Estate Women's Association (TCREW)

Ms. Bobechko is a partner and Head of the Environmental Law Group at Blaney McMurtry LLP. Janet is a Certified Specialist in Environmental Law by the Law Society of Upper Canada and is on the Canadian Brownfield Network-Advisory Panel. Janet has both a Canadian and an American law degree and she also studied international law in London, England. She is a recommended practitioner in Environmental Law in the Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory and also has a BV rating1 in Martindale-Hubble Law Directory in environmental law for legal ability and general ethical standards. Ms Bobechko s practice deals exclusively with all aspects of environmental law with an emphasis on environmental compliance issues arising from federal, provincial and municipal regulatory regimes. A substantial part of her practice involves advising clients in relation to contaminated sites and Brownfield development. She advises clients on corporate, commercial and real estate business transactions, financings and insolvencies including advice on minimization of environmental liabilities for corporations, officers and directors and negotiation of environmental indemnities. She is a frequent speaker at business and legal conferences on all environmental matters. Past Vice-Chair of the Ontario Bar Association Environmental Section. Board of Directors and contributor, Environmental Law Journal, published by Federated Press. Janet is a member of the Ontario Bar Association, Environmental Law Section, Canadian Bar Association, National Environmental, Energy and Resource Law Section, Law Society of Upper Canada, Air & Waste Management Association and the Ontario Environmental Industry Association where she is a cochair of the Brownfield Sub-Committee.