James Kelsall

Background

About James Kelsall

James Kelsall is a partner in McCarthy Tétrault’s Real Property & Planning Group in Toronto. His practice focuses on infrastructure and project development, with an emphasis on the structuring and delivery of major construction, infrastructure and development projects, including under the public-private partnership (P3) framework. He also advises clients on the development and negotiation of construction contract documentation. James has extensive experience advising federal, municipal and provincial governments and government agencies in respect of the structuring, procurement, design, construction, financing, operation and maintenance of a broad range of public infrastructure projects, including both above and below-grade linear transit projects, hospitals, courthouses, correctional facilities and energy assets. In particular, James has worked with Infrastructure Ontario and its development partners to deliver over a dozen DBF and DBFM projects. James has also advised a number of public and private sector clients in respect of the sale and acquisition of infrastructure assets. In a similar role at another Seven Sisters firm, James advised private sector clients, including developers, construction companies, equity investors and lending institutions in respect of the successful pursuit, negotiation, closing and delivery of a number of P3 infrastructure projects across the transportation, energy, and social infrastructure sectors. James is active in the infrastructure space beyond his legal advisory work. He has delivered guest-lectures for both the Osgoode Hall School of Law and the Schulich School of Business on P3 project structuring and risk, participated as a facilitator for the Sustainable Infrastructure Fellowship Program of the Investor Leadership Network (an initiative of the G7) and sits on the Board of Directors for Young Leaders in Infrastructure, an infrastructure advocacy and educational organization affiliated with the Canadian Council for Public Private Partnerships. James was called to the Ontario Bar in 2013, having received his J.D. from Queen’s University in 2012 and a B.A. from McGill University in 2008. He is a member of the Law Society of Ontario, the Canadian Bar Association and the Ontario Bar Association.