Hale & Merrow advises corporations, developers and private families across three core disciplines — corporate & commercial, real estate, and private client matters — each led by senior counsel who has practised the area for decades, not quarters.
We act for founders, boards and lenders through the full life of a business — from incorporation and early financing, through growth, acquisition, and eventual exit. Our approach favours plain-language agreements and early identification of risk over lengthy negotiation for its own sake.
Clients range from Toronto-based operating companies and family enterprises to private equity sponsors and their portfolio companies, with matters frequently extending across provincial and cross-border lines.
Share and asset purchase transactions, founder and shareholder disputes, credit facility documentation, corporate restructurings, board advisory on fiduciary duty, and governance frameworks for closely-held companies.
Our real estate group advises developers, institutional owners, lenders and individual purchasers across Toronto's commercial and residential markets. We aim to close cleanly and on schedule, with title and financing risk resolved well before the closing table.
Matters span single-property acquisitions to multi-phase development sites, and we regularly work alongside our corporate and private-client colleagues where transactions touch on financing structure or estate planning.
Purchase and sale agreements for commercial properties, condominium and freehold residential closings, ground and retail lease negotiation, development site assembly, and mortgage and construction lending documentation.
We advise individuals and families on the quiet, careful work of preserving wealth and intention across generations — wills, trusts, and the administration that follows. Matters are handled with the discretion such affairs require, and files are kept with the same lawyer from planning through eventual administration.
Many private-client relationships at the firm span decades and multiple generations of the same family, informed by an early understanding of what each family actually wants for the people it cares about.
Comprehensive estate plans for business owners and multi-generational families, trust settlements, contested and uncontested estate administration, powers of attorney for property and personal care, and succession planning for family enterprises.