Geoffrey Dyer
Bar Admissions
Ontario, 1976 | England & Wales, 2006
Education
Dartmouth College, AB, 1970 | Osgoode Hall Law School, LLB, 1974
Profile
Qualified in Ontario and England, Geoffrey Dyer is one of Canada's foremost authorities on international private client matters. Geoffrey has a comprehensive private client practice which embraces personal and corporate taxation, estate planning, corporate and commercial law, trust law and certain aspects of estate law. He is the trusted personal advisor to many clients on a wide range of issues. He is also involved in the creation and management of charities. During his career Geoffrey has contributed significant articles to professional organizations pertaining to sophisticated topics on domestic and international income tax and estate planning, including the Canadian Bar Association, the Canadian Tax Foundation, the International Fiscal Association, the Law Society of Upper Canada (Special Lectures), the New York State Bar Association and the Society of Trusts and Estates Practitioners. In his charitable activities Geoffrey is Past-President and Board Chair of Toronto Botanical Garden and current Chair of The Great Dixter Charitable Trust in the United Kingdom.
Experience
Initially a tax litigation counsel with the Canadian Department of Justice, Geoffrey has been practising law since 1976, principally in the field of income tax. Prior to founding the firm, Geoffrey was a partner at Tory, Tory, DesLauriers and Binnington, now Torys LLP, from 1984 until 2006 and at Bennett Jones LLP from 2006 until December, 2016. For a considerable period Geoffrey's practice was focused on corporate income tax, particularly in the areas of mergers and acquisitions and capital markets. Increasingly there came an emphasis on private enterprise planning and structuring, and personal advisory work with core clients. In addition, for many years Geoffrey was very active in advising a prominent Canadian pension fund with respect to the structure of its investments and various corporate, governance and regulatory aspects of the fund's affairs. Today, while still grounded in tax law, Geoffrey's practice is almost exclusively dedicated to private client work.
Recent Publications
Directors' Duties in Canada, 6th ed. April 06, 2016. Members of Bennett Jones, including Geoffrey Dyer and Mary-Jane Govers, were involved in the writing of various chapters of Directors' Duties in Canada, 6th ed., edited by Barry Reiter and published in Canada by CCH Canadian Limited.
Recognition
Chambers Canada - Recognized Practitioner, Private Client: Canada
LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell
BV Distinguished Peer Review Rating
The Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory
2014 -2018, leading practitioner and repeatedly recommended, Estate & Personal Tax Planning
Who's Who Legal: Canada
Geoffrey J.R. Dyer, 2016, recognized as a leading lawyer in the area of private client law
Distinctions
2006 City of Toronto Environmental Award for contribution to the beautification of Toronto's parks and public spaces.
Instrumental in establishing the True Patriot Love Foundation dedicated to the support of Canadian military families, particularly veterans.
2013 Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal for public service.
Family
Geoffrey lives in Toronto with his wife, two daughters and three grandchildren.
Mary-Jane Govers
Law Clerk
Mary-Jane Govers has been a law clerk since 1989. She has extensive experience in all aspects of corporate law (including complex reorganizations and restructuring), as well as with trusts, the creation and management of charities and not-for-profit corporations and certain aspects of income tax. Mary-Jane and Geoffrey Dyer have worked together for their clients for over 20 years, first at Tory, Tory, DesLauriers and Binnington, now Torys LLP, where Mary-Jane practiced from 1990 until 2006 and then at Bennett Jones LLP from 2006 until 2016.
Mary-Jane is a graduate of the Diploma, Law Clerk Program (Co-op) (1989) at Fanshawe College of Applied Arts and Technology. She is an Associate Member of The Institute of Law Clerks of Ontario and has contributed to annual conference programs of that Institute. Mary-Jane was a co-author in updating and re-working Chapter 26 - Governance of Not-for-Profit Corporations of Directors' Duties in Canada, 6th ed.
Navjot Sihra
Law Clerk | Office Manager
Navjot is a law clerk and the office manager at the firm. As a Law Clerk, Navjot is proficient in corporate and estates law. Navjot assists with corporate transactions including incorporations, amendments, amalgamations, continuances, dissolutions, registration filings and minute book maintenance. She also assists with will preparation, estate planning matters and handles general estate administration. In addition, Navjot is also responsible for the administrative, compliance and the day-to-day operations of the firm.
Navjot obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from York University. She is also a graduate of the Law Firm Profile - Office Administration program at the Humber College Institute of Technology & Advanced Learning. Navjot is an Associate Member of The Institute of Law Clerks of Ontario.