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Jay Lefton Toronto Lawyer

Jay A. Lefton

Partner Fasken
With companies varying widely in their maturity, financing, negotiating leverage and dynamics, preparing for acquisitions, financings and strategic alliances requires the right balance of strategy and practicality.
Jurisdiction Ontario, 1983
Language(s) English
Office(s) Toronto
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Overview

Jay Lefton practices corporate and securities law. Jay advises clients on public and private mergers & acquisitions transactions, private equity matters and public and private financings, as well as assisting with strategic alliances, technology transfer and licensing. He works predominantly in the technology and life sciences sector.

Assisting acquirers and target companies and their boards of directors, Jay advises on negotiated transactions and unsolicited takeover bids, most of which are multi-jurisdictional.

Jay also represents issuers, both public and private, as well as advisers, venture capitalists, institutional investors and private equity funds. Working with universities, hospitals, research institutions and researchers, Jay advises at various stages in the commercialization of their discoveries.

Jay’s non-Canadian clients are primarily located across the United States, Europe and Israel, and Jay travels to those regions several times a year.

Jay is a former member of the Ontario Securities Commission's Securities Advisory Committee, advising the Commission on various matters, including legislative and policy initiatives. Jay was an adjunct faculty member at Toronto’s Osgoode Hall Law School and has also instructed at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto.

Achievements

  • Recognized in the Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory as Repeatedly Recommended in Technology Transactions, Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory 2026
  • Recognized in the Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory as Repeatedly Recommended in Life Sciences & Health, Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory 2023 to 2026
  • Recognized in the Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory as Consistently Recommended in Corporate Commercial Law, Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory 2022 to 2026
  • Recognized as one of 15 individuals and the only Canadian to be ranked by Chambers Global 2024 under Corporate/M&A – Canada – Foreign expertise in Israel and Corporate/M&A – Israel – Expertise based abroad in Canada, Chambers Global 2017 to 2026
  • Recognized in the Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory as Consistently Recommended in Corporate Mid-Market, Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory 2013 to 2026
  • Recognized in the Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory as Repeatedly Recommended in Private Equity, Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory 2023 to 2026
  • Recognized in Mergers & Acquisitions Law, Securities Law, Biotechnology and Life Sciences Practice, Corporate Law, Leveraged Buyouts and Private Equity Law, and Health Care Law in Toronto, The Best Lawyers in Canada 2010 to 2026
  • Recognized in the Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory as Repeatedly Recommended in Mergers & Acquisitions, Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory 2025
  • Recognized as a Global Elite Thought Leader in Life Sciences - Transactional, Who's Who Legal 2024 to 2025
  • Recognized in Life Sciences - Transactional (Global), an award in which WWL only recognizes six people in Canada, Who's Who Legal 2014 to 2025
Chambers & Partners Publication name with laurels Chambers Global Recognized as one of 15 individuals and the only Canadian to be ranked by Chambers Global 2024 under Corporate/M&A – Canada – Foreign expertise in Israel and Corporate/M&A – Israel – Expertise based abroad in Canada "Jay Lefton is a Toronto-based lawyer who is especially active on deals involving Canada and Israel. Sources agree that he has "made a name for himself" with regard to this specialism"

Career & Education

Education

  • LLB University of Toronto
  • B Comm University of Toronto

Community involvement

  • Member, Startup Companies Committee, Hospital for Sick Children (Toronto)
  • Former Member, Board of Directors, Ontario Genomics Institute
  • Former Chair, Board of Directors, Thunder Bay Regional Health Research Institute
  • Former Member, Board of Governors, University of Ontario Institute of Technology
  • Former Member, Board of Governors, Mount Sinai Hospital
  • Former Chair, Cell Therapy Advisory Board of Princess Margaret Hospital (Toronto)
  • Former Member, Canadian Friends of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
  • Former member, Canadian Friends of the Tel Aviv Foundation
  • Former Member, Board of Directors, University of Toronto Innovations Foundation, whose mandate was to commercialize technologies developed at the University
  • Former Member, Board of Directors, ThinkFirst Foundation of Canada (Former Chair)
  • Former Member, the Ontario Neurotrauma Foundation
  • Former Member, Adjudication Panel of the Premier's Catalyst Awards Program, sponsored by the Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation

Memberships & Affiliations

  • Member, Mergers and Acquisitions Committee (Business Law Section), American Bar Association
  • Member, International Bar Association
  • Member, Canadian Bar Association
  • Former Adjunct Faculty Member, Osgoode Hall Law School
  • Former instructor, University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management
  • Delegate, Ontario trade missions to Israel and the West Bank led by the Premier of Ontario (2010; 2016)
  • Chair, Canadian Organizing Committee for NanoIsrael (2010)
  • Member, Toronto Academic Health Sciences Council Subcommittee on Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer (2000-05)
  • Member, Biotechnology Council of Ontario (which provided guidance to the Government of Ontario on the development of Ontario's strategy for this sector) (1999-2001)

News

  • Fasken Welcomes the IBA to Toronto, 5/1/2025
  • Fasken Attends IBA 2022 in Miami, 7/21/2022
  • Fasken Attends IBA 2019 in Seoul, 8/8/2019
  • Fasken Attends IBA 2018 in Rome, 9/1/2018
  • Fasken Wins Labour and Employment Law Firm of the Year in the 2019 Best Lawyers in Canada Guide, 8/21/2018
  • Lexpert Highlights Fasken lawyers in Special Edition on Corporate law, 4/27/2018
  • The 2018 Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory recognizes 200 Fasken lawyers, 4/12/2018
  • Chambers Global 2018 recognizes 54 Fasken lawyers in 19 practice areas firm-wide, 2/19/2018
  • Twenty Fasken lawyers recognized in the 2018 Lexpert/American Lawyer Guide to the Leading 500 Lawyers in Canada, 1/26/2018
  • Fasken Doubles Top Tier Rankings in Legal 500 Canada 2018, 12/7/2017

Publications

  • Financial Assistance Guide, 12/31/2022
  • Takeover Guide, 12/31/2022
  • Toronto and Tel Aviv Exchanges Sign MOU: Is Dual-Listing on the Horizon?, 4/1/2010
  • The Lawyer's Role in Canadian Mid-market Mergers & Acquisitions, 1/1/2005
  • Ontario Leaves Limitation Questions Unanswered, 1/1/2004
  • Acquisitions of Canadian Corporations Using Plans of Arrangement, 12/1/2003
  • Use of Voting Support Agreements in Canadian M&A Transactions, 1/1/2003
  • Exempt Securities Distributions, 2/1/2002
  • Canada, Takeovers Practice Manual, 1/1/2002
  • Use of Exchangeable Shares in the Acquisition of Canadian Corporations, 1/1/2001
Article, Editor Financial Assistance Guide Corporate and M&A Law Committee, International Bar Association
Guide, Editor Takeover Guide Multinational Takeover Bids Task Force of the Corporate and M&A Law Committee, International Bar Association
Article Toronto and Tel Aviv Exchanges Sign MOU: Is Dual-Listing on the Horizon? Canadian Securities Law News

Speaking Engagements

  • Economic and Trade Relations Between Israel and Canada: Challenges and Opportunities, 8/25/2025
  • When Corporate and Securities Law Needs a Valuator's Help, 6/12/2025
  • Operating Businesses in Canada and Incentives for Investment, 4/8/2025
  • Considerations for Share Purchase Agreements and Asset Purchase Agreements, 3/13/2025
  • Guiding Health-Care Innovations Through Start-Up Creation, 2/27/2024
  • Who Are Your Commercialization Partners? Getting From A Great Idea to a Great Business, 3/11/2020
  • Return of Protectionism in M&A Transactions: Canadian and Israeli Perspectives, 9/20/2019
  • Start-Up Companies: Commercialization of Academic Ideas, 7/30/2019
  • Reverse Mergers and Takeovers, 3/28/2019
  • Getting from Ideas to Innovation, 3/19/2019
Speaker Economic and Trade Relations Between Israel and Canada: Challenges and Opportunities Seminar co-sponsored by the Consulate General of Israel and the Schwartz Reisman Academic Exchange Program location location Toronto, ON, Canada
Speaker When Corporate and Securities Law Needs a Valuator's Help Connect 2025 Conference sponsored by The Canadian Institute of Chartered Business Valuators location location Toronto, ON, Canada
Speaker Operating Businesses in Canada and Incentives for Investment Seminar co-sponsored by the Canadian Embassy in Tel Aviv, Israel Export Institute and Showcase IL on the topic of “Expanding into the Canadian Market location location Tel Aviv, Israel