Our
Powerhouse
Team.

Chris is an experienced corporate and transactional lawyer. His area of expertise focuses on a variety of secured and unsecured debt financing transactions, including acquisition finance, cash-flow financings, real estate financings, ABL financings, restructurings and DIP/exit financings as well as high-yield debt. He also has a growing FinTech practice.

On lender-side transactions, Chris has acted for major Canadian and US financial institutions, hedge funds and private equity firms and has a number of ongoing borrower-side clients. He has led large teams on a number of domestic and cross-border financing transactions and has supported numerous public and private companies with their ongoing day-to-day business and legal needs. He offers a pragmatic solution driven approach for his clients.

*Practising through a professional corporation.

Money is an experienced and pragmatic transactional lawyer who prioritizes clients’ interests and always aims to facilitate transactions as efficiently as possible. He has worked extensively with start-ups, public and private companies, agents and underwriters on mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance, securities, and general corporate law matters in a variety of industries including technology, cannabis, hospitality, financial services, mining, entertainment, real estate, automotive, health, packaged goods, seniors housing and apparel.

Money also assists companies with their corporate governance, regulatory compliance, licensing, and continuous disclosure obligations. In addition to providing legal advice, Money leverages his engineering and business background, his network and experience as an investor and entrepreneur to assist clients with business, operation and strategic needs.

*Practising through a professional corporation.

Dennis is a transactional lawyer who leverages his prior in-house experience to facilitate pragmatic solutions for his client’s legal needs. He has worked extensively with start-ups, public and private companies, agents and underwriters on mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance, securities, and general corporate law and commercial matters across a variety of industries including technology, cannabis and health. In Dennis’ previous role, he served as the sole lawyer and first employee of an international medical cannabis company, where he helped the company complete several M&A and other strategic transactions. Combined with his business degree, Dennis’ background enables him to understand complex business issues and provide pragmatic and high-quality legal advice.

Kyle is a transactional lawyer who works with start-ups, as well as public and private companies across a variety of industries. His practice focuses on mergers and acquisitions, venture capital and corporate finance, and general corporate matters. Before joining Founders, Kyle was an associate at a large Canadian law firm practicing corporate law with a main focus on technology companies.

Kyle received his J.D./M.B.A. from Dalhousie University, where he acted as Co-Chair of the Business Law Association.

Jean's practice focuses on debt financing, corporate transactions and financial services regulatory matters. With more than 40 years of legal experience, she has developed extensive expertise in the areas of acquisition financing, project finance, structured finance, asset-based lending, P3 finance, debt restructuring and complex domestic and cross-border financings and regulatory matters relating to foreign and domestic financial institutions. Clients represented include domestic and foreign chartered banks, private debt funds and corporate borrowers.

Jean has been recognized in The Legal 500 Canada, The Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory, The Lexpert/American Lawyer Media Guide to the Leading 500 Lawyers in Canada, The Lexpert Guide to Leading US/Canada Cross-border Corporate Lawyers in Canada (banking and asset-based lending), Chambers Global (banking and finance), IFLR 1000, Euromoney’s Guide to The World’s Leading Banking Finance & Transactional Lawyers and The World’s Leading Women in Business Law (banking), Law Business Research’s International Who’s Who Legal of Banking Lawyers and Best Lawyers in Canada (banking and structured finance and the “2015 Toronto Asset-Based Lending Lawyer of the Year”). In 2009 Jean received the Lexpert Zenith Award, recognizing her as one of Canada’s leading women lawyers and mentors.

She served as a law clerk to the Chief Justice of the Ontario Court of Appeal. Prior to joining Founders in 2024, Jean was a partner at Goodmans LLP.

*Practising through a professional corporation.

Kip offers his clients: (i) sound legal and strategic judgment, which he has acquired in his many years on Bay Street; (ii) a successful track record of recruiting and leading engaged teams, whether for a specific deal or the long term support of a client’s commercial needs; and (iii) the ability to draw on his network, in multiple sectors and geographies, to connect with the right people to help his clients resolve their issues. Kip holds strongly to the view that the best lawyers cut through the “noise” to identify their clients’ key legal and commercial concerns and then propose and implement creative and efficient solutions.

A somewhat unconventional career trajectory has equipped Kip to offer clients a range of services and perspectives. Schooled in both the Common Law (Queen’s) and Civil Law (Laval) legal traditions, Kip remains a member of both the Ontario and Quebec bars. He learned the fundamentals of litigation while completing his Ontario articles at a respected litigation boutique in Ottawa (Cooligan Ryan). He acquired a solid grounding in corporate law while completing his Quebec articles at one of that province’s leading corporate law firms (Stikeman Elliott) and, subsequently, by working as an associate in the corporate law group of a prominent Toronto firm (Torys). Kip was then invited to be the ninth lawyer in the newly opened Toronto office of a respected Montreal firm (Heenan Blaikie). Twenty-two years later, his partners from across the country elected Kip national Co-Managing Partner of the firm, which by then had nearly 500 lawyers.

When Kip first moved to Heenan Blaikie, he was part of a small team charged with building the footprint of Toronto’s “new legal kid on the block”. This allowed Kip to develop a broad skillset along with a corporate commercial practice of mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance, the drafting of commercial agreements, the regulation of financial institutions, solicitor support of corporate litigation and providing clients overall strategic advice. Owing to his fluency in Italian, Kip was seconded for a financial quarter to the Milan office of a law firm that was part of an international accounting firm. Several years later, Kip expanded his focus to include Latin America. At Dentons Canada, Kip was chair of that firm’s Latin American Desk, where he was instrumental in building solid connections between Canada and the firm’s broad network in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Over the years Kip’s practice grew to include clients active in Private Equity. Kip has acted for a Quebec based Private Equity fund on both an Ontario and Quebec acquisition. He has represented a Canadian Private Equity fund in connection with its investments in the Caribbean and Latin America and a European family office that completed an equity investment in Quebec.

Kip has also played a key role in the resolution of high stakes conflicts for an American based financial institution.

Kip’s skillset and judgment has also been further honed by decades of community service. Kip completed the legal work required to relaunch a stagnant not-for-profit corporation and to create, from whole cloth, four other not-for-profit corporations. Kip has been a director, officer and President of several community based organizations. He has participated in Canada’s democratic process by serving multiple mandates as President of a federal riding association and as an advisor/worker on multiple political campaigns, including several leadership bids.

As lead counsel on a management buyout/capital reorganisation for a longstanding client, Kip had the opportunity to involve Founders in the complex banking arrangements that underpinned the deal. The excellent work that Founders did on that transaction confirmed for Kip that Founders shared his commitment to pragmatic, creative problem-solving for clients. Kip is delighted to be part of the firm.

*Practising through a professional corporation.

Mark's practice focuses on debt financing, corporate transactions, governance matters and legal opinions. Mark has over four decades of experience including leading complex transactions to successful conclusions. Mark’s debt finance work has included domestic and cross-border transactions of all varieties, both secured and unsecured, and spanning acquisition financings, ABL financings and high-yield debt. His corporate/commercial and governance work has included settling complex shareholder, partnership and joint venture agreements. Mark also has extensive experience in secondary transactions in the private equity market.

Mark is also a bencher of the Law Society of Ontario, the chair of the board of LAWPRO (which insures Ontario’s lawyers) and a member of the governing board of Brandeis University. He teaches “business organizations” at the Henry N. R. Jackman Faculty of Law at the University of Toronto and also has his ICD.D designation from the Institute of Corporate Directors.

Mark has been recognized as a leading lawyer by The Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory (banking and financial institutions), Best Lawyers in Canada (asset based lending, corporate law and banking and finance law), IFLR1000 (banking and capital markets: debt) and is AV Peer Review Rated by Martindale-Hubbell.

Mark is the co-author of numerous publications including Practical Law Canada’s Cross-border Contracts and Boilerplate Clauses content and the Canadian chapter of The Law Review’s Securitisation Law Review - 3rd Edition.

*Practising through a professional corporation.