The group is centred in the firm's Employment, Labour & Pension Group, but also draws upon expertise from the Corporate, Litigation and Taxation Groups of the firm. This approach provides flexible and multi-disciplinary solutions tailored to the client's specific needs. As the first law firm in Canada with practitioners in both Montréal and Toronto devoted exclusively to pension matters, we offer a unique capacity to advise on matters governed by Quebec, Ontario, and federal pension law. Our practice has been endorsed as a Canadian leader by Chambers Global's 2008 Guide to the World's Leading Lawyers for Business.

Expertise

Pension and benefit programmes are becoming increasingly sophisticated and the regulatory and legal framework in which they exist increasingly complex. Our pension expertise includes the full range of legal matters in this area. We draft pension plan rules, trust agreements, investment management agreements and investment policies; advise on pension plan governance and pension fund investment issues; negotiate pension surplus-sharing agreements; advise on the impact of transactions such as mergers and acquisitions, reorganizations, insolvencies, outsourcings, and privatizations; design and administer employee share ownership plans and phantom stock plans; negotiate and structure executive compensation arrangements and advise on the taxation thereof; help financial institutions develop pension and retirement products; advise on creditor protection of retirement income arrangements; represent plan sponsors before pension regulatory tribunals and the courts and counsel employers on benefits-related issues in unionized environments.

Professional Activities

Members of Stikeman Elliott's National Pension and Benefits Group are involved in many professional development activities, including:

• Constituting the editorial board of Canadian Cases on Pensions and Benefits, a monthly law report published by Thomson Carswell;
  
• Sitting on the Quebec Pension Board, Financial Services Commission of Ontario and Financial Services Tribunal Legal Advisory Committees, Ontario Bar Association Pension and Benefits Section Executive, Association of Canadian Pension Management and Canadian Pensions and Benefits Institute;
  
• Publishing articles in various newspapers, law reviews, and pension industry publications;
  
• Contributing the Canada chapter to Employee Share Plans: International Legal and Tax Issues;
  
• Speaking at meetings and conferences of numerous organizations both in Canada and abroad; and
  
• Advising foreign governments on pension reform.

Recent Group Activities

Now Available! Canadian Employment, Labour and Pension FAQ
The National Employment, Labour & Pension Group has recently prepared their Canadian Employment, Labour and Pension Law FAQ card. Contact info@stikeman.com for hard copies.

Pension lawyer authors article on Executive Compensation
Gary Nachshen has written an article in Benefits Canada entitled "Consider Your Options " regarding executive compensation.

Executive Compensation Disclosure Guide - Available soon
Members of our Employment, Labour & Pension Group are working on our soon to be released Executive Compensation Disclosure Guide. This Guide will summarize the new, and significantly revamped disclosure requirements which will impact executive compensation disclosure made by public companies required in proxies. The Guide will also assist companies in planning for these new disclosure rules now in order to comply with them in the new year. Click here to pre-order your complimentary copy.

Employment, Labour & Pension hosting seminar with ACC
October 28 / Stikeman Elliott 's Employment, Labour & Pension Group will be co-hosting a complimentary breakfast seminar with the Association of Corporate Counsel, Ontario Chapter titled "A Year in Review: Have You Kept Up with Employment Law Issues?" in Toronto. Click here for further details and to register.

Toronto lawyer speaking at pension & benefits conference
November 12-14 / Andrea Boctor will be speaking on pension reform at the 10th Essential Skills for Pension Committee Members conference in Toronto.

Lawyer authors  article on pension
Gary Nachshen has written an article in Benefits Canada entitled "The Régie Strikes Back" regarding the Quebec government issuing a series of proposed amendments to the Supplemental Pension Plans Act.

Toronto lawyer authors chapter on Employee Share Plans 
Gary Nachshen has authored the Canada chapter of the newly-released book Employee Share Plans: International Legal and Tax Issues published in the UK by Globe Law and Business.

Partner quoted in Benefits Canada
May 20 / Gary Nachshen from the Toronto office is quoted in the Benefits Canada online article "Court Allows HBC Appeal" regarding the recent appeal on pension plans.  Toronto lawyer Andrea Boctor's Done Deal article is also mentioned in the article.

Toronto lawyer authors regular column in Benefits Canada
Gary Nachshen will be authoring a bi-monthly column in Benefits Canada magazine's "Online Expert Panel." The first column appearing is on "Rules of the Pension Investment Game".

Paper available on Pensions at Work
Ashley Taylor, a member of the Insolvency Group, and Andrea Boctor, a member of the Employment, Labour & Pensions Group, co-authored a paper on "Pensions at Work: Employer Insolvency and the Pension Plan" which was presented at the OBA Pensions and Benefits Programme on February 5, 2008.

Pensions case headed to SCC
Partner Gary Nachshen is quoted in a Benefits Canada commentary, regarding the Supreme Court of Canada granting leave to appeal in the Kerry (Canada) Inc. pension plan case.

Benefits Canada magazine features Gary Nachshen's article on the defined benefit pension plans
Partner Gary Nachshen's article on how recent government consultation papers on the funding of defined benefit pension plans address the need for balance between the interests of employers and employees, is featured in Benefits Canada magazine. Click here to view the article.