Ingenuity LLP Ingenuity LLP

Craig Johnston

Partner - (B.A., LL.B., M.D.E.)

Craig's background includes turns as both a private practitioner and general counsel for a group of private companies operating in Canada and the United States.

Bio

Craig brings both a practical and strategic perspective to the wide range of business law matters that engage him in his role as a principal with Ingenuity. His background includes turns as both a private practitioner and general counsel for a group of private companies operating in Canada and the United States. He has accumulated a breadth of experience in a range of professional pursuits, including planning and guiding a group of transportation, leasing and waste-management companies through a period of change; and working with various corporate clients on complex debt financings and restructurings.

Craig was a founding member of a boutique association of independent legal counsel; a business law partner at a major Bay Street firm; and a principal with his own practice.

Called to the Ontario Bar in 1997, Craig received a Bachelor of Arts in History from the University of Toronto (1983), a Master of Development Economics from Dalhousie University (1990) and a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Toronto Law School (1995), where he was the recipient of the Canada Law Book Competition Law Prize. Craig has also been certified as a CSA-certified Greenhouse Gas Inventory Quantifier (2012), the first accreditation in North America to assess professionals in this specialized field.

Prior to his legal career, Craig worked for the Ontario government as an economist and a manager of policy and program development for labour market programs. In his free time, he enjoys skiing, sailing and motorcycling.

  • Corporate / M & A
  • Commercial
  • Financing / PE / VC
  • Renewables / Carbon Markets
  • Technology / Telecommunications
  • Motorcycling
  • Photography
  • Sailing
  • Skiing
  • Travel
  • Law Society of Upper Canada membership
  • Law Society of Upper Canada past lecturer
  • Ongoing retainers for corporate and transactional counsel to a transportation and equipment leasing group, a telecommunications group, a multinational office supply group, a retirement home development and management group, a group specializing in gift cards and other stored-value media, a retail grocery group, and a community newspaper
  • Acting for a private investment and acquisition boutique
  • Acting for lender in mortgage-backed securities loans
  • Counsel on corporate strategy issues in a major commercial dispute, advising on litigation strategy and settlement structuring for both Canadian and US facets
  • Counsel to a large Canadian bank on their purchase of a major credit card portfolio
  • Counsel to the agent for a syndicate of lenders for the restructuring of a major Canadian commercial conglomerate, including $3 billion of credit facilities
  • Counsel to a multinational syndicate of banks on US$360-million credit facilities, including extensive restructuring and unique litigation action
  • Counsel to the agent for a syndicate of lenders on $3.2-billion credit facilities for acquisition financing, involving multinational security and complex re-financings
  • Counsel to a major Canadian bank on a unique multinational pilot product for Tier 1 bank capital
  • Counsel to the purchaser of a novel $120-million convertible debenture transaction
  • Counsel to the issuer on a $300-million convertible debenture transaction
  • Counsel to a retail start-up from venture capital, now one of the country’s largest sports retailers