Background
Andrew Harrison is a partner in our Toronto office. He was admitted to the Ontario Bar in 1989 and is a graduate of Queen's University Law School. Before that, he was an attorney in South Africa, and graduated with Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of Laws degrees from the University of Natal (South Africa). He is the Toronto regional coordinator of the firm's financial service practice group and is the national leader of the firm's pension law focus group.
Areas of Practice
- Andrew has a broad financial services and commercial practice, with a focus on pension and benefits law, financial institutions law and structured finance. He is experienced in leading teams of lawyers in executing complex transactions.
Professional Experience
Pensions and Benefits Law
- Andrew has advised many different participants in pension and benefit arrangements, including plan administrators, employers, boards of directors, trustees, investment managers and plan beneficiaries. Issues that he has dealt with include the following:
- Plan Design and Administration
- Advising on issues of pension plan governance, including fiduciary duties, proper delegation and statutory requirements
- Strategic advice and advocacy regarding legislative and regulatory reform
- Legal compliance audits of pension plans and pension funds
- Legal opinions concerning pension legislation, plan terms and rights of plan members
- Structuring, reviewing and drafting pension and benefit plans and amendments and employee communications
- Advice regarding compliance and establishment of compliance procedures
- Investments and Funding
- Preparation of investment agreements and statements of investment policies
- Pension fund investments, including structuring and compliance
- Advising regarding the regulation of the investment of pension fund assets and pension-eligible investment products, including innovative investments such as derivatives and hedge funds
- Reviewing and drafting funding agreements including master trust agreements, pension trust agreements, pooled fund arrangements and insurance contracts
- Design and administration of "locked-in" investment vehicles, such as life income funds (LIFs) and locked-in retirement accounts (LIRAs)
- Transactions
- Amendments, mergers, demergers, terminations and wind-ups of pension plans
- Corporate purchases, sales, mergers and demergers and other transactions involving pension and benefit plans
- Advising regarding entitlement to pension fund surplus, and the recovery of surplus, including surplus sharing agreements and contribution holidays
Financial Institutions
- Advising Canadian banks, both domestic and foreign-owned, in all aspects of bank and financial services regulation in Canada
- Advising domestic and foreign banks, trust companies and securities dealers in all aspects of financial services regulation in Canada, including ownership restrictions, operating requirements and permissible corporate structures
- Advising financial services corporations, such as banks, insurance companies and investment dealers, regarding asset sales and corporate restructurings
Structured Finance
- Advising banks, trust companies, non-bank financial institutions and securities dealers in the structure and execution of financing transactions, including loans, financial leases, synthetic leases, securitization and cross-border (including multi-jurisdictional) financing transactions
- Acted for groups of U.S. banks in the structuring and completion of cross-border leveraged and synthetic lease financings of large chemical facilities, rolling stock, high tech and other equipment
- Acted for foreign and Canadian banks in the structure and negotiation of equipment lease transaction proposals
Other
- Coordinating teams of lawyers in complex projects and transactions
- Advising corporations regarding acquisitions and sales of businesses
- Negotiating and completing complex business arrangements, such as investments, divestitures, commercial contracts, shareholder and partnership agreements, and lending and other financing arrangements
- Providing general corporate and commercial advice to businesses
Professional and Community Activities
- Member of the Canadian Bar Association
- Member of the Association for Canadian Pension Management and the International Pension and Employment Benefits Lawyers Association
- Published and presented numerous papers on pension law, financial institutions regulation and structured finance matters
