Brian & Ellen RoseLisa Murzin
Bennett Jones LLP is adding a veteran deal maker to its roster who made his career at Stikeman Elliott LLP: Brian Rose.
Bennett Jones announced in an internal e-mail on Monday that Mr. Rose – who spent nearly four decades at Stikeman Elliott before retiring in late 2013 – is joining the firm as a senior business adviser, based in New York.
Mr. Rose, called to the Ontario Bar in 1976, worked in Stikeman Elliott's London and New York offices in the 1970s and 1980s and was regarded as a key figure in his old firm who helped establish its international profile.
A towering presence – literally, as he is 6-foot-10 – he was a senior corporate partner involved in mergers and acquisitions and other transactions and specialized in the banking and insurance sectors. He is also a chartered accountant.
Hugh MacKinnon, the chairman and chief executive officer of Bennett Jones, said bringing in Mr. Rose to operate out of New York, where Bennett Jones does not have an office, complements the firm's move to install former commissioner of competition Melanie Aitken in Washington, D.C., and will help the firm handle cross-border deals.
"The guy's got years of great experience, in Canada and on the international scene," Mr. MacKinnon said in an interview. "I mean, internationally, he may be the best known Canadian lawyer there is."
He is the second pillar of Stikeman Elliott to seek a second act at Bennett Jones in recent years. In 2013, long-time leading Stikeman Elliott partner Marvin Yontef also signed on with Bennett Jones as a partner.
Jeff Gray