France M. Tenaille
France Tenaille is a partner based in Gowling WLG's Toronto office. She is a member of the firm's business law, energy, infrastructure and mining groups, and is co-leader of the firm's Latin America and Cuba teams.
France's practice focuses primarily on corporate and M&A transactions, corporate finance, commercial matters, and project finance, with an emphasis on cross-border deals and clients in the Latin American natural resources sector.
Before immigrating to Canada, France practised law for over five years at a major law firm in Caracas, Venezuela. Given this experience, she holds a deep understanding of the legal system, culture and business practices of Latin America. France's civil law background and fluency in Spanish - along with her common law training and Canadian legal expertise - allow her to advise Canadian and international clients on a full range of Latin American matters, as well as advise Latin American clients on their business in Canada and beyond.
France has extensive experience advising public and private issuers in connection with asset and share purchases and related party transactions, corporate reorganizations, public and private securities offerings, stock exchange listings, and commercial arrangements such as mining (earn-in) options, joint ventures, operating and off-take agreements, royalties and streaming arrangements, and strategic alliance agreements. She also advises on corporate social responsibility and foreign anti-corruption legislation.
As a result of her commitment to providing practical, solutions-oriented advice and outstanding client service, France's expertise has been recognized in a number of prestigious legal directories, including the Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory, Chambers Global and Chambers Latin America, Who's Who Legal, IFLR1000 and Latinvex.
France is active in the legal community, and regularly speaks at various Canadian and international forums. She is also a founding member, vice-chair and secretary of the New York State Bar Association's Latin American Council. In this role, she works with other prominent lawyers in Central and South America to implement professional conduct regulations for the Latin American legal profession.