Bill McFetridge

Partner
Norton Rose Fulbright Canada LLP

Vancouver
Canada
T:+1 604 641 4825
Vancouver
Canada
T:+1 604 641 4825
Bill McFetridge

Bill McFetridge

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Biography

Bill McFetridge has over 40 years of experience providing professional strategic counsel and advice to clients in a range of industries, including transportation, marine, real estate, construction, maritime, wholesale distribution and forestry.

He is particularly knowledgeable on the process of buying and selling businesses. For 10 years, he chaired “Legal Strategies for Business Acquisitions" designed for senior practitioners in British Columbia. He is also very experienced in structuring and negotiating joint venture arrangements and long-term supply agreements.

Prior to entering law, Bill trained and practised as a chartered professional accountant (CPA), a background that he draws on to deal with a variety of corporate and commercial matters. He remains very active in the accounting profession and is the immediate past chair of  Canada’s Auditing and Assurance Standards Oversight Council, which oversees the development of generally accepted auditing standards in Canada. In 2012, he was elected a fellow of the British Columbia Institute of Chartered Accountants.

He is also a chartered arbitrator (C.Arb.) and is recognized as a domestic arbitrator by the British Columbia International Arbitration Centre and has been involved with many large and small arbitrations, including acting as the court-appointed arbitrator to resolve a dispute regarding the sale of a business.

 

Professional experience

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LL. B., University of British Columbia, 1977
Chartered Professional Accountant, Manitoba and British Columbia, 1974
B. Comm., University of British Columbia, 1972

  • British Columbia 1979

Matters in which Bill has acted include:

  • Going-private transaction involving a publicly traded company
  • Levered management buyout of a large lumber producer, sale of the coastal wood division of a major forest company and negotiation of a joint venture agreement for a $500 million newsprint mill joint venture
  • Purchase of a feed mill in the Fraser Valley, BC
  • Disposition of shares in a Vancouver-based software development company
  • Negotiation of complex arrangements regarding a large petro-chemical plant
  • Disposition of a significant local tugboat company
  • Negotiation of joint venture arrangements with First Nations groups to construct and operate a lumber mill

 

  • Best Lawyers in Canada: Corporate Law, Natural Resources Law, 2006-2025; Mergers and Acquisitions Law, Transportation Law, 2014-2025; Railroad Law, 2019-2025
  • Chambers Canada, British Columbia: Corporate/Commercial, Chambers and Partners, 2017-2025
  • Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory, 2016-2021, 2024: recommended in Corporate Mid-Market, Corporate Commercial Law; 2018-2021, 2023-2024: recommended in Forestry Law; 2023: recommended in Mergers & Acquisitions
  • CLEBC's Most Prolific Volunteers (1996 to 2016): Recognized as prolific contributor
  • Chambers Global: The World's Leading Lawyers for Business: Recognized as a leading lawyer in the area of Transportation: Shipping (2015)
  • LexisNexis - Martindale-Hubbell: AV Peer Review Rated
  • Alternative Dispute Resolution Institute of Canada
  • CPA British Columbia and CPA Manitoba
  • Law Society of British Columbia

 

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