Mr. Neil S. Abbott This is Me

Education

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1. 1. What to Do When the Trustee in Bankruptcy Comes Calling

   www.wosfmagazine.ca/1112-abbot - [Cached]

   Published on: 6/8/2008   Last Visited: 6/8/2008

   by Neil Abbott
   ...
   Neil Abbott is a partner in the financial services department in Gowlings' Toronto office. He serves as chair of the Recovery Services (Creditors' Rights) National Practice Group in Toronto . Contact the writer.

2. 2. Gowling Professionals [Neil S. Abbott, Partner]

   www.smithlyons.com/professiona - [Cached]

   Published on: 7/15/2006   Last Visited: 7/15/2006

   Neil S. Abbott, Partner
   
   Neil Abbott is a partner in the Financial Services Department in Gowlings' Toronto office. He is the National Chair of Gowlings' Construction Law practice group as well as Chair of the Recovery Services National Practice Group in Toronto.
   
   Mr. Abbott divides his time equally as a litigator and solicitor with primary focus in the areas of consumer law, creditor's rights and collections, secured transactions primarily related to truck, automotive and equipment financing, construction law and other liens, bankruptcy and insolvency and civil fraud. He is also an expert in providing advice to Americans doing business in Canada.
   
   Consumer Law, Creditor's Rights and Collections
   
   Mr. Abbott is an expert on all aspects of consumer law, including cost of credit disclosure, consumer protection, privacy, credit reporting and the rules and regulations respecting all of the foregoing especially the application of the New Ontario Consumer Protection Act . His clients include banks, institutional and private lenders, subprime, captive and independent finance companies, trade creditors, commercial enterprises, credit card companies, manufacturers, mortgagees and US lenders.
   
   Mr. Abbott is an experienced practitioner in enforcing the rights of creditors as noted above. He handles both collections of entire portfolios, and individual claims. The claims process includes asset and skip tracing, credit searches, demand through to claim to realization and enforcement. Mr. Abbott conducts judgment debtor examinations, issues garnishments and Sheriff's seizures of personal and real property. His practice includes claims on guarantees, leases, conditional sales contracts, mortgages, inventory repossession, trade debts, cross-border debts, consumer debts, small business loans, priority disputes both between creditors and the Crown, including deemed trust super priority claims of Canada Revenue Agency.
   
   Truck, Automotive and Equipment Finance
   
   Mr. Abbott primarily acts for secured lenders and lessors in this field. He has advised on lending and recovery of a wide variety of assets, including trucks, trailers, boats, cars, coaches and industrial and construction equipment. Mr. Abbott provides advice on negotiation and drafting of all types of contracts, based on his many years of enforcing same. He has also litigated priority disputes, receiverships, government seizures and repossessions, Crown priority claims, repair and storage liens, repossessions, dealer defaults and exported collateral. Based on his experience in consumer law, he is also able to provide advice on the entire credit process including privacy protection and disclosure requirements. His notable cases include Re TCT, in which he successfully opposed the application of the costs of a receivership as against a secured creditor and Chrysler Credit v Fehr, where the Court held that a secured claim extends to insurance proceeds. Mr. Abbott frequently writes for legal publications and provides legal content for World of Special Finance Canadian Edition, a monthly magazine with a focus on non-prime specialty finance. Mr. Abbott is the Canadian National Editor for CARLAW.net the premiere website for automobile finance law in North America.
   
   Construction Law and Other Liens
   
   Mr. Abbott is the Chair of the construction law National Practice Group and is the leading practitioner of construction law in the Toronto office. His expertise includes negotiating and drafting construction contracts, tenders and bidding, enforcement and prosecution of liens including trial of actions across the Province. Mr. Abbott provides construction management advice, which includes termination of contracts and retention of completion contractors. He has litigated claims on labour and material payment bonds, performance bonds and bid bonds. He has assumed construction liens in the course of receiverships and regularly provides advice to lenders on the priority between lien claimants and mortgagees. Mr. Abbott is an Executive member of the Construction Law section of the Ontario Bar Association.
   
   Mr. Abbott is also an expert in dealing with deficiency and warranty claims for both commercial and residential properties. He regularly acts for the Ontario New Home Warranty Program (now Tarion Warranty Corporation) and successfully intervened on their behalf in the Beige Valley/Bridgenorth and Dominion Concrete case, which established that a request to repair by Tarion constitutes a legal obligation.
   
   In addition to providing advice on construction liens, Mr. Abbott has acted with respect to most other liens including tax, solicitors', common carriers', Repair and Storage and livery-keepers' liens under the Innkeepers' Act, including the liens of horse trainers for stable fees and for unpaid race/purse winnings (Re Atto).
   
   Mr. Abbott is also a member of the Canadian Brownfields Network and an invitation-only participant in the National Roundtable on the Environment and the Economy, particularly in developing policy for the removal of tax liens and the financing of improvements to environmentally damaged properties.
   
   Bankruptcy and Insolvency
   
   Mr. Abbott's experience in bankruptcy and insolvency law covers a wide range of activities including commercial and consumer bankruptcies, reorganizations, receiverships, Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA) filings and proposals. He has acted for both secured and unsecured creditors, institutional and private lenders, trustees and receivers, lien claimants and, from time to time, the debtor. Mr. Abbott provides advice with respect to both pre-bankruptcy and post-bankruptcy asset recovery and/or protection. He has conducted many cross-examinations under the various insolvency Acts, opposed discharges and obtained declarations to commence and continue actions and to have claims survive a bankruptcy. Notable cases include Re Lacrosse in which the rights to certain intellectual property were preserved in a bankruptcy and Re Emms (Ontario Court of Appeal) in which the class action of a bankruptcy petition was upheld by the substitution of a petitioning creditor, post-petition.
   
   Mr. Abbott is a frequent lecturer and writer in the area of bankruptcy and insolvency and has presented papers on Canadian Bankruptcy Reform; a comparative study of US and Canadian bankruptcy amendments; a concept of deepening insolvency in Canada as well as contributing to the National Creditor/Debtor Review.
   
   Civil Fraud
   
   Mr. Abbott is a founding member of the Gowlings Civil Fraud team. He has prosecuted fraudulent claims in areas such as forgery, fraudulent conveyance, absconding debtors, misrepresentation of credit, identity theft, mortgage fraud, negotiation of fraudulent instruments, cheque kiting, "pump and dump" and telemarketing scams. He has acted for a number of regulatory bodies, institutional lenders and small businesses. Mr. Abbott has contacts in the police and Crown, as well as relationships with forensic accountants, receivers and trustees.
   
   Memberships
   
   Mr. Abbott is a member of the Canadian Bar Association, Toronto Lawyers Association, Canadian Finance and Lease Association, United States National Automotive Finance Association, National (US) Association of Dealer Counsel, Credit Association of Greater Toronto, Ontario Bar Association, Ontario Bar Association - Construction Law Section Executive, Chicago Bar Association, Commercial Law League of America and Upper Canada College Association.
   
   Presentations
   
   Mr. Abbott is a frequent lecturer at Osgoode Hall Law School. He is an avid speaker and presenter on topics ranging from "Fundamentals of Construction Lien Litigation," "Liening the Public Project," "Best Practices for Risk Management in Construction", "Enforcing Lease Rights in Ontario," "Liens in Insolvencies" , "Fundamentals of Registration under the Personal Property Security Act," "How to use the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act," "Collection Law in Ontario" , "The Merits and Tactics of Asset Protection;" "Litigation against the PPSA Assurance Fund"; "Shedding Light on Deepening Insolvencies in Canada"; presented to the "Fourth Annual DePaul University Symposium on Commercial Law". In 2003, Mr. Abbott was featured in the Ontario Lawyers Gazette as an outstanding mentor to his colleagues in the legal profession. In 2006, Mr. Abbott was ranked as one of the best lawyers in Canada by The Best Lawyers in Canada, 2006 the pre-eminent referral guide to legal profession.
   
   Personal
   
   Mr. Abbott was called to the Bar of Ontario in 1992. He received his law degree from Osgoode Hall Law School. He is also a graduate of Huron College at the University of Western Ontario and Upper Canada College. He is an advocate in all courts in Ontario.

3. 3. wosfmagazine.ca

   wosfmagazine.ca/legalcorner.ht - [Cached]

   Published on: 6/8/2008   Last Visited: 6/8/2008

   Neil Abbott
   ...
   Neil Abbott is a partner in the financial services department in Gowlings' Toronto office.He serves as chair of the Recovery Services (Creditors' Rights) National Practice Group in Toronto . Contact the writer.