Profile

Brian Wynn, Partner, Gardiner Roberts LLP, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Entertainment, Intellectual Property, Corporate/Commercial, Dispute Resolution and Banking

Overview

Brian Wynn provides counsel to a broad range of commercial, entertainment and media clients.  As corporate counsel he advises on all stages of growth from fledgling partnerships to reverse takeovers and public offerings. He is experienced in drafting and negotiating shareholders' agreements, joint-venture contracts and secured financing materials for domestic and international transactions. He has acted for financial institutions on lending matters. 

As counsel to a major entertainment, sport and recreation insurance underwriter, Brian is one of a select few lawyers in North America to act as a clearance attorney specializing in copyright and trademark infringement, privacy, right of publicity, unfair competition and defamation matters. He also advises numerous producers, writers and directors in various media ventures. Acting as an investigator or mediator, Brian has also assisted in the dispute-resolution process with his specialized knowledge of film production and financing structures.

At the Schulich School of Business, York University, he lectures on the Legal Aspects of Media and Entertainment.

Brian is also active in the growing not-for-profit sector, both in the arts and in the sport/recreation field. He is counsel to Ontario's two major sport and recreation coordinating agencies as well as one of the country's elite athletic training centres. He writes and lectures regularly on risk management and liability for sport and recreation professionals.

Areas of Practice and Industry Specialty:
- Entertainment and Media - Insurance Matters, Production Contracting, Script Clearance, Film/Television, Multimedia, Financing, Government Incentives, Joint Ventures, Licensing, Talent Contracting
- Business Practices - Corporate, Commercial Transactions, Securities Financing, Venture Capital Transactions, Purchase and Sale of Business, Employment, Secured Transactions, Not-for-Profit/Charitable Organizations, Sport and Recreation, Partnership Matters, Joint Ventures, Limited Partnerships, Shareholder Agreements
- Financial Services - Secured Lending
- Technology and Intellectual Property - Copyright, Trade Marks, Trade Secrets
- Dispute Resolution - Arbitration/Mediation (Entertainment Disputes)
- Tax and Estate Planning - Wills, Powers of Attorney, Family Business Planning

Professional Memberships

• Law Society of Upper Canada, -
• Ontario Bar Association, -
• Academy of Canadian Film and Television, -
• Lifesaving Society, -

Publications & Presentations

• Balancing Act, Parks and Recreation Canada Magazine,
• Fairs, Festivals and Fundraaisers, Canadian Bar Association,

Colleges Attended

• Yale, 1973
• University of Toronto, 1976

Languages Spoken

• English
• French
• Spanish