Practice Area
Startups &
Founders
Commercially grounded legal counsel for founders — from incorporation and co-founder arrangements through financing rounds, employment frameworks, and strategic transactions.
Built for Canadian and Albertan Founders
Building a company in Canada is one of the most demanding undertakings a founder can pursue. The legal decisions made in the earliest stages shape a company’s trajectory in ways that are difficult and costly to reverse.
Whether to incorporate federally under the Canada Business Corporations Act (CBCA) or provincially under the Alberta Business Corporations Act (ABCA), how to structure equity, document co-founder arrangements, and approach first commercial relationships — these decisions carry long-term consequences that founders often underestimate.
The Approach
- With a practice grounded in corporate, commercial, and transactional law, I bring a solutions-oriented, commercially astute approach to every founder engagement. Whether setting up a first company or negotiating a strategic commercial partnership, founders deserve counsel who understands not only the law, but the business and ecosystem they are building within.
The Startup Package and Services
Everything a Founder Needs from Day One
A comprehensive suite of foundational legal services tailored to Alberta’s and Canada’s corporate and regulatory landscape, designed to establish the legal infrastructure that allows founders to grow, attract investors, and close commercial transactions from a position of strength.
Incorporation & Corporate Structure
Advice on incorporation, share structure design, and full minute book establishment, including by-laws, organizational resolutions, and Corporate Registry filings.
Founders' & Shareholders' Agreements
Preparation of Unanimous Shareholders’ Agreements (USAs) and related matters.
Equity Compensation & ESOPs
Preparation of Unanimous Shareholders’ Agreements (USAs) and related matters.
Private Financing Documentation
Subscription agreements, convertible notes, and SAFEs.Corporate mechanics of private rounds, with collaboration alongside qualified securities counsel, where a round requires regulatory analysis under provincial securities legislation.
IP Assignment & Protection Framework
IP assignment agreements aligned with SR&ED and NRC-IRAP requirements, ensuring all intellectual property is properly assigned to the company
Commercial Agreements
Legal support in preparing commercial agreements.
Employment & HR Foundations
Legal support in preparing employment agreements.
Privacy Law Compliance
Advising on privacy policy drafting, consent frameworks, cross-border data transfer requirements, mandatory breach reporting obligations to the OPC, and practical compliance for technology and data-driven businesses.
Corporate Governance & Records
Director and officer duties, conflict of interest procedures, annual general meeting requirements, board resolutions, annual filing requirements, minute book maintenance, and audit-ready corporate records.
Acquisitions & Strategic Transactions
Providing legal support when your startup is ready to acquire another business, or to be acquired.
Comprehensive Canadian counsel across the founder journey
A Long-Term Partner for Founders
My goal is to become a trusted legal partner to startups — advising through incorporation and co-founder arrangements, early private financing rounds, employment and IP frameworks, and ultimately exit or growth transactions under Canadian law.