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Known for her highly technical yet practical and commercially-minded approach, Tina is dedicated to achieving not only the best legal result for the Firm’s clients, but also the best results for their businesses.

Tina Benson is a partner in our London, England office. She has a unique hybrid transactional / dispute resolution practice which focusses on capital markets and litigation and international arbitration. 

Tina’s capital markets practice involves debt capital markets transactions with an international component. She has been involved with the establishment of covered bond programmes for Canadian financial institutions and regularly advises on the English and European Union law aspects of the renewals of covered bond, euro medium term note and structured note programmes and their related international offerings, which are typically listed on the regulated markets in London, Dublin and Luxembourg and subject to EU banking and capital markets regulations. 

Tina regularly facilitates the smooth and efficient completion of debt issuance transactions for the Firm’s Canadian financial institution clients, including the inaugural debt issuance transactions under the new Canadian bail-in regime and the inaugural debt securities issuances referencing the LIBOR replacement reference rate, SONIA. 

Tina’s dispute resolution practice involves advising the Firm’s Canadian and international clients in the general commercial, corporate and natural resources sectors who are experiencing a breakdown of a commercial relationship. Those clients experience the value of Tina’s hybrid transactional / dispute resolution practice most directly, because they are able to take advantage of her unique 360 degree perspective, gained from almost 10 years of experience drafting the sort of documentation which creates the commercial relationships in the first place. Tina advises on disputes which are governed by English law, even if the interests at stake are elsewhere in the world, including in parts of Africa. Her litigation practice involves proceedings before the London High Court of Justice and her international arbitration practice has involved proceedings before the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) and the ICC International Court of Arbitration.

Highlights of Tina’s specific debt capital markets experience include representing:

• National Bank of Canada in its issuance of USD 1 billion 2.05% covered bonds, Series CBL11, due 20 June 2022, under its London regulated market listed CAD 12 billion Legislative Global Covered Bonds Programme;
• National Bank of Canada in its issuance of USD 270 million floating rate covered bonds, Series CBL9, due 14 December 2020, under its London regulated market listed CAD 12 billion Legislative Global Covered Bond Programme;
• HSBC Bank Canada in its issuance of USD 750 million 3.300% covered bonds, Series CBL1, due 28 November 2021, under its CAD 3.5 billion Legislative Covered Bond Programme; and
• Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce in its issuance of EUR 1.25 billion 0.00% covered bonds, Series CBL12, due 25 July 2022 under its Luxembourg regulated market listed CAD 20 billion Legislative Global Covered Bond Programme – the first negative-yield covered bond offering for any Canadian covered bond issuer.

Highlights of Tina’s specific dispute resolution experience include:

• the successful representation of an international private equity firm in its debt claim brought in the High Court of Justice, Business and Property Courts, Chancery Division; and
• the successful defence of an oil and gas exploration company in an international arbitration seated in London under the ICC Rules, brought against it in relation to an asset in Africa.

In addition to work on client specific matters, Tina is also a contributor to the firm’s TechLex blog (focussing on Fintech issues) and its International Arbitration blog.

Tina graduated from the joint Canadian and American law degree programme between the University of Windsor and the University of Detroit Mercy.  In 2009, she received both an LLB from the University of Windsor and a JD (Magna Cum Laude) from the University of Detroit Mercy.  She was called to the bars of Ontario and New York in 2010 and was admitted to the roll of solicitors for the senior courts in England and Wales in 2017.