Jeremy D. Burke

Partner Admitted to the Ontario Bar: 2009

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  • Bio
  • Awards & Recognition
  • Professional Involvement
  • Selected Speaking Engagements
  • Selected Publications
  • Insights
  • Education

Jeremy works with his clients to ensure he is positioned to efficiently deliver insightful, practical and reliable advice. He understands the priorities and pressures that clients often face, having worked in management at a media company prior to becoming a lawyer. Clients value his business-minded approach and dedication to each client’s unique goals and long-term interests.

Jeremy is a member of the firm’s Corporate/Commercial Group, Transportation Group and Cannabis Group. He is also a Co-Chair of the Charity and Not-for-Profit Law Group. His corporate/commercial practice focuses on private business mergers, acquisitions and dispositions, as well as corporate structuring and ongoing corporate governance, commercial agreements (of numerous varieties), and shareholders’ agreements and other business ownership arrangements. Jeremy also provides regulatory advice to both public and private companies in industries including cannabis, transportation, franchising, professional services, import/export and retail.

Jeremy’s charity and not-for-profit practice includes assisting clients with obtaining or amending charitable registration, implementing governance best practices, incorporating and governing under not-for-profit corporate statutes, preparing charity-specific forms of agreement (e.g., gift, agency/intermediary, fundraising), merging charities, obtaining charitable gaming licences, and assisting with general corporate or commercial matters.

Awards & Recognition

  • Recognized in The Best Lawyers in Canada in the field of Corporate Law
  • Recognized in Chambers Canada as an Up & Comer in Cannabis Law
  • Recipient of the Lang Michener LLP Prize in Commercial Law, Osgoode Hall Law School, 2007
  • Recipient of the Jack Friedman, Q.C. Book Prize in Commercial Real Estate, Osgoode Hall Law School, 2007
 

Professional Involvement

Community Involvement

  • Urban Squash Toronto, Board of Directors (Chair of Governance Committee) (2022 to present)
  • Jewish Family & Child Service of Greater Toronto, Resource Committee (2017 to 2021)
  • Churches-on-the-Hill Food Bank, Corporate Secretary (2016 to 2020)
  • The Leo Baeck Day School, Board of Directors (2013 to 2017)

Selected Speaking Engagements

Presenter at July 10, 2019, CIBC presentation, “Cross-Border and Other Issues in Canada’s Cannabis Sector.” 

Presenter at June 11, 2019, RBC presentation, “Cross Border Issues, Lending and Insolvency in Canada’s Cannabis Sector.” 

Presenter at April 18, 2019, webinar, "How to Thrive in the Canadian Cannabis Retail Market," hosted by Aird & Berlis LLP.

Speaker at the Ontario East Economic Development Disrupted 2.0 conference on March 1, 2019, on the topic of “Demystifying Cannabis for Municipalities.”

Presenter at October 24, 2018, webinar, "Opportunities in the Canadian Cannabis Market: Licensing, Leasing and Land Use," hosted by Aird & Berlis LLP.

Speaker at the Hospital Auxiliaries Association of Ontario, 2011 Annual Conference, November 8, 2011, addressing legal issues relevant to Ontario’s hospital auxiliaries including the new Federal and Ontario not-for-profit legislation, special risks for unincorporated associations and director/officer liability.

Presenter at June 19, 2012, webinar presented by Ontario Association of Non-Profit Homes & Services for Seniors (Now AdvantAge Ontario) addressing not-for-profit corporate governance best practices. 

Selected Publications

"AGCO Increases Rate of Cannabis Retail Store Authorizations," Aird & Berlis LLP Cannabis Law Update, September 2, 2020.

"Province Restricts New Cannabis Retail Store Openings to Five Per Week," Aird & Berlis LLP Cannabis Law Update, July 20, 2020.

"AGCO Updates and Ontario Government Emergency Order Permitting Pickup and Delivery of Recreational Cannabis by Licensed Retailers," Aird & Berlis LLP Cannabis Law Update, April 9, 2020.

"Ontario Cannabis Lottery Disqualifications on the Rise," Aird & Berlis LLP Cannabis Law Update, September 16, 2019.

"Ontario Government Cannabis Retail Licence Lottery, Part Deux," Aird & Berlis LLP Cannabis Law Update, July 8, 2019.

"Health Canada Proposes New Regulatory Pathway for “Cannabis Health Products," Aird & Berlis LLP Cannabis Law Update, July 5, 2019.

"Health Canada Seeks to Improve Cannabis Licensing Process Efficiency," Aird & Berlis LLP Cannabis Law Update, May 9, 2019.

2019 Ontario Budget Hints at Continued Phased Approach for Cannabis Retail,” Aird & Berlis LLP Cannabis Law Update, April 23, 2019.

Ontario Cannabis Retail: Just Painful,” Aird & Berlis LLP Cannabis Law Update, December 19, 2018.

AGCO’s Registrar’s Standards Published,” Aird & Berlis LLP Cannabis Law Update, December 5, 2018.

AGCO Application Considerations for Cannabis Retailers,” Aird & Berlis LLP Cannabis Law Update, November 29, 2018.

Ontario’s Cannabis Regulations: Rushed to Release,” Aird & Berlis LLP Cannabis Law Update, November 16, 2018.

Ontario Cannabis Retail Opportunities (and Limitations),” Aird & Berlis LLP Cannabis Law Update, October 1, 2018.

Cannabis Promotion: Seller Beware,” Aird & Berlis LLP Cannabis Law Update, September 5, 2018.

Acquiring Cannabis Genetics Under the New Cannabis Regime,” Aird & Berlis LLP Cannabis Law Update, August 7, 2018.

Cannabis Regulations Published – Licensing Basics,” Aird & Berlis LLP Cannabis Law Update, July 12, 2018.

New Ontario Rule Permits Payments to Charity Directors,” Aird & Berlis LLP Charity & Not-for-Profit Law Bulletin, April 17, 2018.

"Ontario hopes to moderate charity rule requiring court order for director payments," The Lawyer's Daily, September 20, 2017.

"Ontario Proposes to Ease Rule Against Payments to Charity Directors," Aird & Berlis LLP Charity & Not-for-Profit Law Bulletin, August 2, 2017. 

"The Tricky Question of Director Benefits," Imagine Canada, June 13, 2017.

“Governance and Member Rights Under New Not-For-Profit Legislation,” Association™ (the magazine of the Canadian Society of Association Executives), October/November 2011.

“Ontario’s Not-for-Profit Corporations Act, 2010 and the Canada Not-for-profit Corporations Act,” Aird & Berlis LLP Not-for-Profit Bulletin, October 14, 2011.

“Duties (Not) Owed to Borrowers,” National Banking Law Review, December 2007, Vol. 26, No. 6.

Education

  • LLB, Osgoode Hall Law School, 2008
  • Canadian Securities Course (Hons.), Canadian Securities Institute, 1999
  • BA, Economics (with Distinction), Concordia University, 1999