John-Paul Bogden loves the fast-paced world of mergers and acquisitions.
“If you’re acting for owner-operators when they’re being acquired by somebody large, it can be a life-changing event for them,” he said. “Apart from that, the pace at which those deals move and the cut and thrust of the negotiation is always exciting.”
As a partner at Blake Cassels and Graydon LLP, Bogden represents clients large and small, from entrpreneurs and venture-capital backed businesses to large TSX and NYSE-listed corporations. He has tenaciously recruited clients like Twitter, Fulcrum Capital Partners and Informatica Corporation.
A recent deal that stands out for Bogden is Twitter’s acquisition of Summify, a Vancouver software company. It was Twitter’s first acquisition of a Canadian company.
“The talent they got in that acquisition is an important chunk of what Twitter is trying to do today,” he said. “Those guys [at Summify] are very, very good at building software that can cull and distill for you all the things they think would be interesting for you.”
Bogden regularly mentors young lawyers and articling students. Last year, he helped organize the first Summer Sizzle party, a fundraising event for the Dr. Peter AIDS Foundation that introduced young downtown professionals to the charity. He recently helped raise $20,000 for Athletics for Kids BC by stepping into the ring and boxing in a white-collar fight night event. •
