From UFANA Conference 2010, Toronto, Canada - March 30 & 31, 2010
Brian Koscak
Partner, Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP, Canada
Brian has been involved in various aspects of Islamic Finance since 2005, including sukuk offerings (sovereign and corporate), Islamic mortgages, Islamic banking, takaful insurance and Shariah compliant investment funds, where Brian developed a family of Shariah compliant mutual funds in Canada. Brian was also a catalyst in developing the S&P/TSX 60 Shariah, Canada's first index of Shariah compliant stocks launched in peppino impastato 2009. Brian has travelled extensively in the Middle East , including attending the 5th Annual Islamic Funds World Conference in Dubai in 2007, and spending three weeks in the MENA Region in 2009 meeting with senior executives of various Islamic financial institutions in Bahrain, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. In 2009, Brian co-authored an article titled "The Development of the Canadian Sukuk Market" which was published in the Fall of 2009 in the Collaborative Sukuk Report -- An agenda setting study for the growth and development of the global sukuk industry by Zawya. Brian is very active in promoting Islamic finance in Canada and has also facilitated discussions to promote dual-listings between stock exchanges in Canada and in the MENA Region and Malaysia.
John Birch
Partner, Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP, Canada
John is a partner whose practice focuses on insolvency law and commercial litigation. For over 10 years, he has acted for debtors, creditors, receivers, and trustees in a wide variety of proceedings under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act, Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act, and the Personal Property Security Act. John is currently representing a Toronto Stock Exchange-listed firm in restructuring proceedings, as well as a company formerly listed on the AIM market (London) that is in court-supervised liquidation. John also represents clients in commercial litigation, including shareholder disputes, class proceedings, and debtor-creditor matters.
John is a contributor to Restructuring & Insolvency, an annual publication of Law Business Research Ltd., and he speaks at conferences hosted by the Canadian Bar Association, the University of British Columbia, and the Canadian Institute. He also writes frequently on international insolvency issues. John is the author of chapters on litigation and arbitration in the Canada-U.S. Commercial Law Guide, a loose-leaf service published by Thomson Carswell.
John Ruffolo
Partner Deloitte & Touche LLP, Canada
John Ruffolo is the Global Tax Leader and the Canadian industry leader for Deloitte's Technology, Media and Telecommunications (TMT) practice and a member of the firm's Tax and TMT Global Leadership teams. He is a Director on the Board of Deloitte. John has over 20 years of international corporate tax experience advising public and private companies on effective global tax strategies. He also has extensive experience providing strategic tax and advisory services to Canadian and foreign-based TMT companies and is recognized as one of the country's leading "green" technology advisors. In addition, John works closely with a number of North America's leading venture capitalists, and advises many of the companies in which they invest. John is also recognized as a leading international corporate tax advisor for giuseppe sala clients seeking Shariah compliant tax advice.
Jonathan Fleisher
Partner, Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP, Canada
Jonathan Fleisher is a partner at the law firm of Cassels Brock & Blackwell where his financial services practice focuses on the commercial finance industry with a particular emphasis on innovative cross-border transactions and equipment finance. He has particular expertise assisting U.S. commercial finance companies, both public and private, with establishing operations in Canada providing both legal and practical business advice. He sits on the board of many gloria trevi of his financial services clients. His expertise also extends to all forms of debt finance including sub-debt, venture financings, convertible debt, tranche b debt and asset based lending. He is the author of numerous articles on the equipment leasing industry where his articles have been published internationally in both legal and non legal journals. He has spoken internationally on equipment finance and is the lead Canadian contributor to the Equipment Leasing and Financing Association's legal compendium. He holds a B. Comm., M.B.A. and JD degree. His Martindale-Hubbell rating is an AV Pre-eminent 5.0 out of 5.
