Lawyers

Catherine A. Hofmann Partner

Catherine is a partner at Bernard LLP and acts for both private and public companies in a wide range of industry sectors including marine, transportation, vessel construction, manufacturing, and forestry.  Her practice focuses on mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, debt and equity financing, organization of new and existing business ventures, including shareholder agreements, partnerships, joint ventures and corporate reorganizations.  Catherine also has extensive experience in negotiating and drafting commercial agreements, including leases and licenses of crown and federal land as well as contracts involving the use and supply of marine, terminal and other services.

Catherine also frequently advises clients on the purchase, construction, sale, importation and financing of both pleasure craft and commercial vessels.

Catherine is an annual contributor to CLE’s Due Diligence Deskbook on chapters relating to water lots and provincial crown tenures.

Representative Cases

  • Tax planned corporate reorganizations and multi-staged amalgamations by a large Canadian public company and its Canadian subsidiaries.
  • Financing and strategic acquisition of a distributor and marketer of lumber products for a Canadian public company
  • Tax planned cross-border loan syndicate major refinancing involving a building materials company and several of its Canadian and US subsidiaries
  • Sale transaction of private industrial services company valued at $100 Million to US public company

Professional and Other Affiliations

  • British Columbia Bar, 1993
  • Law Society of Upper Canada, 1993
  • Law Society of B.C.
  • Women’s International Shipping & Trading Association
  • Association of British Columbia Marine Industries
  • Canadian Bar Association
  • Business, Maritime, and Environmental Law Sections of the CBA

Author and Speaker

  • Contributor to BC Shipping and Western Mariner magazines on topical legal issues.
  • Contributor to CLE’s Due Diligence Deskbook on chapters relating to water lots and provincial crown tenures.
  • LL.M. thesis: “Keeping Up With the Feds: The Provincial Response to Canada’s Species at Risk Act”, Master’s Thesis, University of Ottawa, Faculty of Graduate Studies in Law, June 2008.

Other Interests

Catherine’s personal interests include boating, hiking and nearly all outdoor recreational pursuits.

Catherine A. Hofmann

Areas of Practice

Education

  • LL.M, University of Ottawa, 2008
  • LL.B., University of Toronto, 1991
  • B.A., (Hons. Economics) University of Alberta, 1988

Publications