Michael B. Rotsztain smiling in a suit
Michael B. Rotsztain
Relevant Practices
Year of Call
Ontario, 1977

Michael B. Rotsztain

Counsel

Michael has played a significant role in many of Canada’s largest restructuring and insolvencies.

Useful Links

Michael Rotsztain is a member of our Restructuring & Insolvency Group.

With over 40 years of experience in all areas of insolvency law, Michael brings a wealth of experience to our group. His practice focuses on the restructuring of corporations, including formal proceedings under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act, out-of-court workouts and refinancing’s. Michael also has extensive experience in court receiverships, bankruptcies and liquidations and in representing parties acquiring or investing in troubled companies.

He acts in a senior advisory capacity for many categories of stakeholders in restructurings and insolvencies, including creditors, investors and purchasers, restructuring corporations, equity holders and official appointees in insolvency proceedings.

Michael has published a number of articles on matters relating to insolvency in Annual Review of Insolvency Law, National Insolvency Review, Commercial Insolvency Reporter and Canadian Bankruptcy Reports. He is also a frequent speaker at seminars and conferences on insolvency and related matters and is a former instructor of Creditors’ and Debtors’ Rights at the Law Society of Upper Canada Bar Admission Course.

He has chaired and served on a number of Insolvency Institute of Canada/Canadian Association of Insolvency and Restructuring Professionals working groups on insolvency law reform in Canada.

Michael joined our firm after practicing for many years as a partner at a leading national law firm.

Industry Experience

  • Technology
  • Communications & Transportation
  • Financial institutions & Financial services
  • Manufacturing Retail
  • Real estate
  • Property development
  • Mining
  • Leisure and Recreation
  • Agriculture

Recognition

  • Voted by his peers for inclusion in the 2019, 2020, 2021 and 20222 editions of Best Lawyers in Canada© – Insolvency and Financial Restructuring Law
  • Ontario Bar Association Insolvency Law Section – 2014 Murray Klein Award for Excellence – Recognition of combined and consistently demonstrated integrity, decency and selflessness in approach to professional practice in the areas of insolvency and restructuring.
  • Chambers & Partners’ Chambers Global: World’s Leading Lawyers for Business, The Client’s Guide, 2009-2013— Leading lawyer in restructuring and insolvency
  • Lexpert/Thomson Reuters’ Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory, 2012— Repeatedly recommended practitioner in insolvency and financial restructuring
Relevant Practices
Restructuring and Insolvency
Year of Call
Ontario, 1977

Representative Legal Matters

  • an agent to the lending syndicate advising on matters related to syndicate’s Canadian subsidiary in the termination of a multibillion-dollar hydro- turbine project [NTD: this relates to BNP Paribas]
  • a major transportation services company in its recent CCAA restructuring
  • a bidder for the assets of Sears Canada
  • a syndicate of banks in the CCAA restructuring of Pacific Exploration
  • the DIP lender and backstop investors in the restructuring of AbitibiBowater
  • one of the world’s leading technology companies as the “stalking horse” bidder for the IP portfolio of the Nortel Networks Group
  • a leading cross-border vision and medical clinic operator in its successful CCAA/Chapter 11 restructuring
  • unsecured creditors in the U.S. Steel Canada and Target Canada CCAA cases
  • a biotechnology company in its successful CCAA restructuring
  • the court-appointed receiver of Crate Marine Sales Limited

Publications, Presentation & Media Highlights

  • “Cross-Border DIP Facility Encounters Judicial Resistance in Payless Decision” (2017) 32 National Creditor Debtor Review
  • “Cross-Border DIP Facility Encounters Judicial Resistance in Payless Decision” (2017) Fall / Winter issue CAIRP Rebuilding Success, p. 22
  • Co-authored with Sanja Sopic a Case Comment in the National Insolvency Review (2016), Nat. Insol. Review Volume 33, Number 1, Case Comment: In Re Nortel Networks Corp., The Ontario Court of Appeal confirms the applicability of the “Interest Stops” rule to CCAA proceedings
  • The Lawyers Weekly, “Court clarifies pension, secured creditor priority” November 20, 2015 (Markham, Ontario: LexisNexis, 2015) at 19
  • Michael B. Rotsztain and Sanja Sopic drafted the chapter, Restructurings of Single Asset Real Estate Businesses – Should There be Legislative Restrictions? in the Annual Review of Insolvency Law: 2014, Editors: Dr. Janis P. Sarra, LL.B., LL.M., S.J.D.  and The Honourable Justice Barbara Romaine, Carswell, (Scarborough, Ontario), 2015
  • Co-authored, with Sanja Sopic, Associate, Goldman, Sloan, Nash & Haber LLP  Case Comment: Re Nortel Networks Corp. and the Applicability of the Interest Stops Rule to CCAA Proceedings in the National Insolvency Review, February 2015, Volume 32., No. 1, (2015), Nat. Insol. Review, (LexisNexis Canada, Markham, Ontario, Canada)
  • Quoted – “The CBCA is much more limited, says Michael Rotsztain” The Globe and Mail Report on Business (October 26, 2012)
  • Quoted – “David Chaikof and Michael Rotsztain are advising on one of North America’s largest bankruptcies in 2009,” Law.com (June 8, 2009)
  • “Fee Premium Awards in Canadian Insolvencies” 2007 Annual Review of Insolvency Law (Thomson Carswell, February 2008)
  • “Debtor-in-Possession Financing”, Canadian Bankruptcy & Insolvency Law, edited by Stephanie Ben-Ishai and Anthony Duggan, (LexisNexis2007)
  • “A Whirlwind Tour of Diverse Issues”, panel discussion at Canadian-American Symposium on Cross-Border Insolvency Law, sponsored by the Annual Review of Insolvency Law, American Bankruptcy Institute and Western University (February 2005)
  • “Substantive Consolidation in CCAA Restructurings: A Critical Analysis” 2004 Annual Review of Insolvency Law (Thomson/Carswell)
  • Group Leader, Working Group on Executory Contracts, Insolvency Institute Of Canada/Canadian Association of Insolvency and Restructuring Professionals Joint Task Force on Business Insolvency Law Reform (2004)
  • “Cross-Border Issues: Managing the Canadian Side of an American Insolvency Application” Advanced Insolvency Law and Practice (Canadian Institute, January 2003)
  • “Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act Interim Receivers” Ontario Bar Association, Enforcement and Insolvency Issues for Lenders (October 2002)
  • “Choosing your Weapon: Deciding between the BIA and CCAA Regimes”, Second Annual Advanced Insolvency Law and Practice, (Canadian Institute, January 2002)
  • “Debtor-in-Possession Financing in Canada: Current Law and a Preferred Approach” (2000) 33 Canadian Business Law Journal, No. 283

Professional Associations & Memberships

  • Insolvency Institute of Canada
  • Ontario Bar Association, Insolvency Subsection
  • Turnaround Management Association – Toronto Chapter

Community Involvement

Education

  • 1975 – Osgoode Hall Law School, York University (J.D.)
  • 1972 – McGill University (B. Com. (First Class Honours Economics, Beatty Medalist in Economics))

Other

Personal Interests

Michael’s interests include cycling, hiking and walking, along with current affairs and history. He is also a flâneur and connoisseur of urban life in Toronto and other beautiful cities.

  • an agent to the lending syndicate advising on matters related to syndicate’s Canadian subsidiary in the termination of a multibillion-dollar hydro- turbine project [NTD: this relates to BNP Paribas]
  • a major transportation services company in its recent CCAA restructuring
  • a bidder for the assets of Sears Canada
  • a syndicate of banks in the CCAA restructuring of Pacific Exploration
  • the DIP lender and backstop investors in the restructuring of AbitibiBowater
  • one of the world’s leading technology companies as the “stalking horse” bidder for the IP portfolio of the Nortel Networks Group
  • a leading cross-border vision and medical clinic operator in its successful CCAA/Chapter 11 restructuring
  • unsecured creditors in the U.S. Steel Canada and Target Canada CCAA cases
  • a biotechnology company in its successful CCAA restructuring
  • the court-appointed receiver of Crate Marine Sales Limited
  • “Cross-Border DIP Facility Encounters Judicial Resistance in Payless Decision” (2017) 32 National Creditor Debtor Review
  • “Cross-Border DIP Facility Encounters Judicial Resistance in Payless Decision” (2017) Fall / Winter issue CAIRP Rebuilding Success, p. 22
  • Co-authored with Sanja Sopic a Case Comment in the National Insolvency Review (2016), Nat. Insol. Review Volume 33, Number 1, Case Comment: In Re Nortel Networks Corp., The Ontario Court of Appeal confirms the applicability of the “Interest Stops” rule to CCAA proceedings
  • The Lawyers Weekly, “Court clarifies pension, secured creditor priority” November 20, 2015 (Markham, Ontario: LexisNexis, 2015) at 19
  • Michael B. Rotsztain and Sanja Sopic drafted the chapter, Restructurings of Single Asset Real Estate Businesses – Should There be Legislative Restrictions? in the Annual Review of Insolvency Law: 2014, Editors: Dr. Janis P. Sarra, LL.B., LL.M., S.J.D.  and The Honourable Justice Barbara Romaine, Carswell, (Scarborough, Ontario), 2015
  • Co-authored, with Sanja Sopic, Associate, Goldman, Sloan, Nash & Haber LLP  Case Comment: Re Nortel Networks Corp. and the Applicability of the Interest Stops Rule to CCAA Proceedings in the National Insolvency Review, February 2015, Volume 32., No. 1, (2015), Nat. Insol. Review, (LexisNexis Canada, Markham, Ontario, Canada)
  • Quoted – “The CBCA is much more limited, says Michael Rotsztain” The Globe and Mail Report on Business (October 26, 2012)
  • Quoted – “David Chaikof and Michael Rotsztain are advising on one of North America’s largest bankruptcies in 2009,” Law.com (June 8, 2009)
  • “Fee Premium Awards in Canadian Insolvencies” 2007 Annual Review of Insolvency Law (Thomson Carswell, February 2008)
  • “Debtor-in-Possession Financing”, Canadian Bankruptcy & Insolvency Law, edited by Stephanie Ben-Ishai and Anthony Duggan, (LexisNexis2007)
  • “A Whirlwind Tour of Diverse Issues”, panel discussion at Canadian-American Symposium on Cross-Border Insolvency Law, sponsored by the Annual Review of Insolvency Law, American Bankruptcy Institute and Western University (February 2005)
  • “Substantive Consolidation in CCAA Restructurings: A Critical Analysis” 2004 Annual Review of Insolvency Law (Thomson/Carswell)
  • Group Leader, Working Group on Executory Contracts, Insolvency Institute Of Canada/Canadian Association of Insolvency and Restructuring Professionals Joint Task Force on Business Insolvency Law Reform (2004)
  • “Cross-Border Issues: Managing the Canadian Side of an American Insolvency Application” Advanced Insolvency Law and Practice (Canadian Institute, January 2003)
  • “Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act Interim Receivers” Ontario Bar Association, Enforcement and Insolvency Issues for Lenders (October 2002)
  • “Choosing your Weapon: Deciding between the BIA and CCAA Regimes”, Second Annual Advanced Insolvency Law and Practice, (Canadian Institute, January 2002)
  • “Debtor-in-Possession Financing in Canada: Current Law and a Preferred Approach” (2000) 33 Canadian Business Law Journal, No. 283
  • Insolvency Institute of Canada
  • Ontario Bar Association, Insolvency Subsection
  • Turnaround Management Association – Toronto Chapter
  • 1975 – Osgoode Hall Law School, York University (J.D.)
  • 1972 – McGill University (B. Com. (First Class Honours Economics, Beatty Medalist in Economics))

Personal Interests

Michael’s interests include cycling, hiking and walking, along with current affairs and history. He is also a flâneur and connoisseur of urban life in Toronto and other beautiful cities.

Newsletter

Sign up for updates and bulletins!

Get news from Goldman Sloan Nash & Haber LLP in your inbox.

Skip to content