Barbara Miller

Barbara Miller

Partner

Barbara Miller is the immediate past Co-Chair of Fasken Martineau's National Communications Law Practice Group. Her practice is broadly based and multi-faceted, but has been concentrated in the last decade in the communications sector, about which she has extensive knowledge. She has been engaged in connection with many of the leading investments in, and acquisitions, dispositions and financings of telecommunications and broadcasting entities in Canada, in addition to providing general regulatory advice to industry members. Barbara regularly counsels clients on the structuring of transactions to comply with Canadian foreign ownership restrictions. She has represented AT&T in Canada since the early 1990's, including in all aspects of its investments in AT&T Canada and, through AT&T Wireless (now Cingular Wireless), in Rogers Wireless, as well as in relation to AT&T's joint ventures with British Telecommunications and its subsequent dispositions of these investments. Barbara also advises U.S. cable networks in their dealings with Canadian regulatory authorities and has been involved in film financings and domestic and international production and co-production agreements on behalf of clients, such as CHUM Limited (now CTVglobemedia).

In the banking area, Barbara represents both domestic and foreign lenders as well as corporate and institutional borrowers. She has been engaged in multi-jurisdictional, multi-currency and multi-lender financings, project loans, leveraged buyouts, distressed preferred share transactions and other forms of debt restructurings. She frequently provides advice on the granting of security interest on all types of tangible and intangible property. Barbara has a particular expertise in financing transactions involving telecommunications and broadcasting companies and has acted in this regard for both major service providers and equipment suppliers, in addition to lenders.

Outside of the communications arena, Barbara represents her clients on a wide variety of international, cross border and domestic merger and acquisition restructurings and banking transactions, including project and infrastructure loans. In her role at team leader, she coordinates the advice provided by others members of her firm, local counsel and other external advisors. As well, she acts for directors and officers on matters of corporate governance, and has particular expertise in advising corporate trustees and their management teams in relation to their fiduciary duties.

Barbara sits on several boards of directors and management teams, both on behalf of clients and in her personal capacity, including on the Board of Cosmopolitan Television. She has been an active participant in Fasken Martineau's management and has served in numerous capacities, including a three-year term on her firm's Executive Committee, as Chair of the Professional Personnel Committee, and on the Compensation Committee and the Governance and Compensation Review Task Force. Barbara has consistently received the highest AV Peer Review Rating in Martindale-Hubbell.

Barbara is a frequent speaker and panellist at seminars. She has chaired and participated in many conferences on the subject of Canada’s foreign ownership restrictions relating to broadcasting and telecommunications companies, including the Law Society of Upper Canada’s National Symposium in April of 2008. She has been a lecturer for the telecommunications management course offered by the Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering of the University of Toronto through its Professional Development Centre. Barbara participated in a regulatory roundtable discussion on VoIP at the IP World Conference and chaired a recent panel on Deal Protection Mechanisms in Cross-Border Transactions at one of Canadian Institute's Advanced Forums on Mergers and Acquisitions.

Membership/Affiliations