MLT Aikins is pleased to announce that 15 lawyers have been accepted into the partnership, effective January 1, 2021.

Milad Alishahi (Regina)

Milad is an experienced litigator practising broadly in the areas of commercial litigation and construction litigation. He has particular focus on municipal law and agribusiness. Milad regularly advises on contractual disputes, shareholder and partnership disputes, insurance and agricultural claims. He takes a practical, results-oriented approach to resolving complex commercial disputes. He has appeared before all levels of Court in Saskatchewan, the Court of Queen’s Bench in Manitoba and various tribunals including the Saskatchewan Municipal Board.

Samer Awadh (Regina)

Samer Awadh advises clients on matters involving corporate finance and securities, mergers and acquisitions, commercial lending and other corporate/commercial matters.

Eric Buettner (Winnipeg)

Eric practises in the areas of corporate and commercial law with a focus on mergers and acquisitions. Eric is experienced in providing advice to private corporations and shareholders in the negotiation and completion of purchases and sales of businesses, commercial transaction structuring, mergers, corporate finance, corporate planning, organization and governance, and shareholder and partnership agreements. In addition, he has advised a wide variety of corporate and shareholder clients in various industries, including professional corporations.

Lincoln Crooks (Saskatoon)

Lincoln Crooks maintains a general corporate commercial practice with a primary focus on commercial lending and the financing, leasing and purchase/sale of commercial real estate. Lincoln also has experience in the resource sector, assisting mining companies with land transactions and regulatory compliance, as well as experience in the area of business acquisitions, share and asset transactions.

Erin Eccleston (Saskatoon)

Erin maintains a commercial law practice focused on commercial real estate, financing and construction law. Her experience includes the acquisition and disposition of commercial real estate, commercial leasing, commercial financing and advising on contracts. Erin also assists clients with Saskatchewan farm land ownership legislation. She has additional experience in the natural resource sector, assisting companies with land transactions, supply agreements, construction agreements and regulatory compliance as well as share, asset and royalty transactions.

Sonia Eggerman (Regina)

Sonia has extensive experience in Aboriginal law on various matters including Aboriginal and Treaty rights, governance issues, land use planning, on-reserve economic development, regulatory and other constitutional issues.

Sonia enjoys creative problem solving through negotiated solutions that can be supported with litigation strategy. Sonia served in a senior capacity with the Government of Saskatchewan for nearly a decade and has a deep understanding of provincial and federal processes. This experience in the public sector is instrumental in providing clients with sound strategic and legal advice when dealing with the Crown.

Chris Hahn (Calgary)

Chris’s practice involves advising clients on a host of commercial matters including mergers & acquisitions, commercial lending transactions, commercial real-estate transactions, prospectus-exempt securities offerings and various corporate governance issues.

Chris has experience advising clients with respect to business acquisitions and dispositions, commercial lending transactions for both borrowers and lenders, as well as governance related matters including shareholder and partnership agreements.

Additionally, Chris has experience with commercial real estate transactions and advising private corporations in connection with prospectus-exempt securities offerings.

Amyn Lalji (Vancouver)

Amyn F. Lalji has nearly twenty years of experience representing Indigenous clients in negotiations and advocacy in respect of Canada’s largest resource-based projects and economic development initiatives. He also provides advice to Indigenous governments, leaders and development corporations in many areas of the law. Amyn is dedicated to providing exceptional service and representation for Indigenous clients and has been recognized as a leading lawyer in Canada practising in the area of Aboriginal law.

Kristen MacDonald (Saskatoon)

Kristen is a member of our commercial litigation group, where she advises clients involved in complex legal and contractual disputes. She has a particular focus on appellate litigation, and her experience as a clerk at the Supreme Court of Canada provides her with a unique insight into effective appellate advocacy. Kristen has appeared before all levels of court in Saskatchewan, and has also represented clients in appeals before the Alberta Court of Appeal, the Federal Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Canada. In addition to commercial litigation, she practices administrative law and has appeared before a number of regulatory tribunals and the Federal Court.

Brent Matkowski (Saskatoon)

Brent Matkowski maintains a general labour and employment practice. Brent assists unionized and non-unionized employers with a variety of labour and employment law issues including labour relations, human rights, occupational health and safety, workers’ compensation, labour standards, employment contracts, employer policies, and discipline. Brent has appeared before the Saskatchewan Labour Relations Board, Provincial Court, Court of Queen’s Bench and Court of Appeal.

Alexandre Mireault (Winnipeg)

Alexandre practises in the firm’s litigation department with a focus on construction litigation, corporate and commercial litigation, professional liability, securities litigation as well as international trade and regulatory compliance. He is a knowledgeable litigator with substantial experience in trial advocacy, injunctive relief and case management pleadings. Additionally, he has appeared before courts of first instance and appellate courts.

With three years’ experience working on regulatory compliance in Asia, Alexandre is able to meet the unique needs of diverse clientele faced with cross-border challenges, including matters related to international trade and anti-money laundering.

Paul Olfert (Saskatoon)

Paul Olfert provides practical restructuring, dispute resolution, and secured realization solutions to businesses, lenders, insolvency professionals and individuals.

Paul’s experience includes commercial insolvency proceedings under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (Canada) and the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act (Canada), as well as receivership proceedings and commercial foreclosures. Paul’s focus on agricultural insolvency proceedings in Saskatchewan has given him detailed knowledge of the special realization procedures in The Saskatchewan Farm Security Act relating to Saskatchewan farm land and other agricultural assets.

Paul also has broad experience in the field of commercial litigation including contractual disputes, intracorporate and shareholder disputes, and oppression proceedings under corporations legislation. He appears regularly before the Saskatchewan Court of Queen’s Bench and has argued matters before the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal, the Saskatchewan Director of Corporations, and the Saskatchewan Registrar of Titles.

James Rose (Regina)

James Rose is a commercial litigator with a focus on restructuring and insolvency proceedings, secured and unsecured realization, as well as construction and business litigation. James has appeared at all levels of Saskatchewan Courts. Along with advising clients on debt recovery, business disputes, product liability and issues such as deficiency and delay claims arising from construction projects, James has extensive experience with enforcement through Saskatchewan’s Enforcement of Money Judgments Act, The Saskatchewan Farm Security Act and has an increasing bankruptcy and insolvency law practice.

Marc Unger (Winnipeg)

Marc practises in the area of corporate and commercial law, with a focus on banking and commercial lending, commercial real estate, privacy law and agribusiness. Marc’s practice has an emphasis on financing, including working with financial institutions, institutional lenders and advising startups. Marc has acted in commercial real estate matters for corporate landowners as well as agribusiness farmland. Marc has experience with matters relating to regulatory compliance, CASL compliance, privacy breaches and policies.

Celia Valel (Winnipeg)

Celia practises in the area of taxation, which includes corporate and personal tax planning, corporate reorganizations, tax efficient business structuring, succession planning and taxpayer disputes with the Canada Revenue Agency. Her corporate and commercial law experience includes corporate structuring, contracts and shareholder agreements. Celia assists clients with wills, estates and trusts matters. Celia advises charities and not-for-profit organizations, including applications for charitable status, corporate structuring and governance.

“Our new partners represent a diverse mix of practices from each of our provinces and are all excellent representatives of the firm’s values, culture and guiding principles. They are established leaders in their respective practice areas and have excelled at delivering our clients exceptional service and high quality advice,” said managing partner Aaron Runge.

Please join us in congratulating the new partners in achieving this very significant milestone and welcoming them into the partnership.

 A spirit of hard work, determination and an ability to produce results is what built the Canadian West over the last 150 years, and it’s what fuels us today. With offices in Winnipeg, Regina, Saskatoon, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver, MLT Aikins has the bench strength and geographic scope to meet the increasingly complex needs of clients. We are proud to be Western Canada’s law firm.