Blakes Welcomes Leading Regulatory Litigator C. Kemm Yates, Q.C.

Adding strength to the Blakes Regulatory Group

Photograph available upon request

TORONTO/CALGARY, Feb. 16 /CNW/ - Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP (Blakes), one of Canada's leading business law firms, today announced that C. Kemm Yates, Q.C., has joined our regulatory practice as a Partner in the Calgary office.

"We've been patiently awaiting the right player to join our regulatory practice," said Brock Gibson, the Firm's Chair. "Blakes has an exceptionally strong energy, litigation and dispute practice, and we are delighted that a lawyer of Kemm's calibre has decided to join us."

Mr. Yates is a pre-eminent energy regulatory lawyer in Canada. He appears frequently as senior counsel in proceedings before all levels of provincial and federal regulatory tribunals, arbitrators and the country's highest courts.

Mr. Yates has represented energy pipeline, producer and consumer interests before Canada's National Energy Board and various provincial regulators for over 30 years. He is a leading expert in the complex field of regulatory finance and regularly appears in rate and tariff proceedings for energy utilities, as well as the permitting applications for facilities (oil sands plants, oil and gas pipelines, gas processing facilities and petrochemical plants, all involving application and interpretation of environmental and regulatory legislation.)

Acting as counsel or adjudicator, Mr. Yates has been involved in arbitrations relating to natural gas pricing, asset evaluation and legal contractual issues. He has also acted as counsel at the trial and appeal levels of Alberta courts, as well as in the Federal Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Canada.

For many years, Kemm has been recognized in The Lexpert/American Lawyer Guide to the Leading 500 Lawyers in Canada. He also appeared in The Lexpert-Thomson West Guide to the 100 Most Creative Lawyers in Canada, as well as The Best Lawyers in Canada, Chambers Global: The World's Leading Lawyers for Business and other publications.

    
    About the Blakes Energy Group
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The Blakes Energy Group consists of a broad regulatory practice that has developed in-depth knowledge of the laws and regulations that govern the regulatory bodies federally and in Alberta, British Columbia and Ontario. Blakes has advised and represented clients in all aspects of energy, environmental and regulatory issues. We have represented both applicants and interveners before all national regulatory authorities, including public and policy oriented inquiries. Additionally, Blakes has been intimately involved with dozens of facility, toll, tariff, generation, land applications and agreements and has worked on all phases of project approval from the positioning and initiation of projects through to final argument in the hearing room. Our significant knowledge and expertise in the regulatory environment enables Blakes to provide strategic insight to clients at the planning stage, persuasive representation at the hearing stage and practical advice for continued success in the future. Blakes energy lawyers are consistently ranked in Canada by publications such as The Best Lawyers in Canada, Chambers Global: The World's Leading Lawyers for Business and The Canadian Lexpert Directory.

    
    About the Litigation & Dispute Resolution Group
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Blakes has one of the largest and most successful litigation and dispute resolution practices in Canada. The group has represented national and international clients in complex commercial disputes in virtually every forum across the country, including applications for judicial review of administrative tribunal decisions. This includes the Supreme Court of Canada, where Blakes litigators regularly appear on cases at the forefront of developments in Canadian law. Because of the depth of our litigation practice, the Firm is well positioned to serve clients operating across multiple jurisdictions and industry sectors. The group and its members are consistently recognized as leaders in publications such as The Best Lawyers in Canada 2010, PLC Which Lawyer? Yearbook 2009, The 2009 Lexpert Guide to the Leading US/Canada Cross-border Litigation Lawyers in Canada and The Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory 2009. Chambers Global: The World's Leading Lawyers for Business 2009 includes comments such as "This group 'has everything a client could want in terms of expertise and service: the lawyers display excellent instincts and impressive strategy'...." and "'Wide-ranging strengths and an abundance of great attorneys'...."

    
    About Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP
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Blakes has more than 550 lawyers with offices across Canada and in New York, Chicago, London, Bahrain, Beijing and associated offices in Al-Khobar and Shanghai. In 2009, Blakes was named "Canada's Law Firm of the Year" by Who's Who Legal and, for the second year running, "Law Firm of the Year: Canada" in the PLC Which Lawyer? Awards. On December 16, 2009, the Financial Times and mergermarket awarded Blakes the Legal Advisor of the Year Award and, for the second year in a row, the Mid-Market Legal Advisor of the Year Canada Award. In 2007, 2008 and 2009, Blakes was Canada's busiest M&A law firm, according to rankings in the Bloomberg, Thomson Reuters and mergermarket league tables. In January 2010, Bloomberg ranked Blakes the ninth busiest law firm in Global Announced Deals for 2009 - Counsel to Principals by deal value. Blakes is the only Canadian firm on this top 10 list. More information on Blakes is available by visiting the Firm's website at www.blakes.com.

For further information: Celia Bobkin, Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP, [phone], [email protected]