Primary Practice
Michelle primarily practises in the areas of commercial and agricultural financing and collections, insolvency, bankruptcy and restructuring law. Michelle has acted as counsel to:
- lenders and as Saskatchewan counsel to out-of-province law firms in relation commercial financings, with an emphasis on agricultural financings;
- lenders (including special loans departments) in relation to work-out and recovery strategies, including forbearance arrangements, restructurings, collections and repossessions, with an emphasis on agricultural matters;
- lenders (including special loans departments) in relation to restructuring and receivership / bankruptcy proceedings under the BIA;
- corporate debtors in relation to restructuring and receivership / bankruptcy proceedings under the CCAA and under the BIA;
- insolvency professionals appointed as monitor, receiver, trustee and liquidator both in relation to specific appointments and, as general counsel.
Michelle also acts as general counsel in Saskatchewan to a chartered Bank, primarily pertaining to security and collection issues and strategy specific to Saskatchewan agricultural operations and issues arising under the Saskatchewan farm protection legislation. Michelle recently managed a project examining the pros and cons of continued use of Bank Act security in each of the western provinces, obtaining opinions specific to each province, providing the Saskatchewan opinion, and assisting the client with its analysis and with the implementation of changes to its security programs arising out of that analysis.
Michelle is a skilled negotiator, and has participated in mediations and Court proceedings particularly in matters related to agricultural collections.