Rob Blackstein > Borden Ladner Gervais LLP > Toronto, Canada > Lawyer Profile

Borden Ladner Gervais LLP
Bay Adelaide Centre, East Tower
22 Adelaide Street West, Suite 3400
Toronto, ON M5H 4E3
Canada

Work Department

Energy and Natural Resources

Position

Partner

Career

Rob Blackstein is a seasoned corporate and transactional lawyer and co-chair of BLG’s Electricity Markets Group in Toronto. Rob is involved in all aspects of the energy and infrastructure industries, from upstream structuring between investors down to the project level, including project development, debt and equity financings, construction, operations, mergers and acquisition (M&A) transactions, both domestic and cross-border.

Rob works on a wide range of infrastructure and energy projects and transactions for public authorities, owners, lenders, equity providers, operators, customers, developers and design-builders. His experience in Canada’s energy is extensive and spans transmission, distribution and generation (solar, wind, hydroelectric, gas and nuclear), district energy projects and hydrogen.  Rob acts on a number of the sector’s most significant and marquee energy and infrastructure transactions, including complex bilateral arrangements as well as number of “first of a kind” projects. Rob also acts on the formation and structuring of various project and investment vehicles, including energy and infrastructure funds, and has represented fund sponsors and institutional investors in connection with such transactions. On large scale infrastructure projects, Rob acts for public authorities, developers and design-builders in a number of areas, including hospital projects, toll roads, rail and ports.

Rob is involved in a number of industry associations and is the Chair of the Toronto Board of Trade’s Energy Transition Committee, a cross-sectoral committee that aims to develop a sustainable, reliable and affordable energy system in the Toronto Region in order to enable business growth.

Languages

English

Memberships

  • Member, Canadian Bar Association

Education

  • LLB, University of Windsor, 2005
  • JD, University of Detroit Mercy School of Law, 2005
  • BA (Hons.), Queen’s University, 2002

Bar Admission

  • Ontario, 2006

Personal

  • Chair, Toronto Board of Trade’s Energy Transition Committee
  • Volunteer board member, John G. Althouse Before and After School Program

Lawyer Rankings

Canada > Energy and natural resources > Power

The full-spectrum power practice at Borden Ladner Gervais LLP combines a dominant regulatory offering with strong skill sets in transactional and contentious energy work. Drawing on specialists across the country, the national group acts for a comprehensive mix of government entities, electrical utilities, power developers, lenders and equity investors across conventional, renewable and nuclear power matters. Toronto-based John Vellone fronts the energy, resources and renewables department and strikes a balance between regulatory and transactional work; he recently acted alongside transactional partner Rob Blackstein (Toronto) to advise Northland Power on the acquisition, development, construction and financing of the C$750m Oneida battery storage project. Other key contacts in Toronto include Shane Freitag, who chairs the power area and is recommended for transactional work, and regulatory specialist Mark Rodger. In Calgary, Jonathan Liteplo is a go-to power regulation practitioner, while regional managing partner Alan Ross KC is sought after for his broad energy regulation expertise, which spans electricity, renewables, and oil and gas.