Bay Street deal veteran Marvin Yontef is leaving Stikeman Elliott LLP to join competitor Bennett Jones LLP.
Mr. Yontef spent 38 years at Stikeman working his way up from young associate to senior partner, and even lead the firm's corporate department in the 1990s. Over the years he worked on a range of files in areas such as mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance, and securities offerings.
In the last few decades, Mr. Yontef advised on many major deals, including acting as lead corporate counsel for Air Canada as it filed for protection under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA) in 2003 and provided legal advice through its restructuring. This overhaul became the "largest insolvency, business and debt restructuring in Canadian history," according to Stikeman Elliott.
Mr. Yontef also worked on the restructuring of Calgary-based Dome Petroleum in 1980s before the company was bought out. More recently, he worked with the team that advised Ned Goodman's Dundee Corp. when Dundee Wealth Inc. was acquired by the bank of Nova Scotia.
He will continue to work in a similar capacity in his new role at Benett Jones.