Unlimited vacation policy can be a boon for employers

Unlimited vacation policy can be a boon for employers

December 31, 2007

Toronto lawyer Marlin Horst says he finds corporate lending work intellectually stimulating and most enjoys putting together the “pieces of the pie.”

“What’s interesting to me is making sure lenders are getting security over the assets that they need to have security over. That then becomes a bit of a puzzle as to what goes where and how to ensure you have the best possible security and that the assets can’t leak out of your security box.

“It’s intellectually stimulating from that perspective,” he adds.

Horst, a partner with Shibley Righton LLP, acts on behalf of corporations in a range of industries including financial services, where his practice encompasses all types of lending including syndicated, senior, subordinated, asset-based and project finance.

He joined Shibley eight months ago, following seven years as a corporate and finance lawyer with a large Bay St. firm. He says while he enjoyed working with his previous firm, Shibley’s size is ideal for his client base.

“A big reason for change is that my practice is largely mid-market,” he tells AdvocateDaily.com. “Those clients appreciate the lower overhead that comes with a smaller firm. In fact, one of my clients that I’ve had for many, many years came in for his first meeting at Shibley. When he walked in he said, ‘This is more my style.’”

His clients include financial institutions, mainly non-traditional lenders in the commercial lending world.

“I also work with a mishmash of various corporate clients that I have picked up over the years. One in the insurance business, one in the wine industry, and a wide variety in other industries as well. I started off working as a lending lawyer and I picked up other clients along the way,” he says.

When Horst was attending law school at the University of Western Ontario, like many of his classmates, he imagined he would become a litigator.

“I didn’t have much exposure to the world of law until I went to law school. That being said, two of my brothers are lawyers but we didn’t come from a professional background by any means. I thought I would be a litigator, because that’s all I knew.”

In the summer between second and third year, Horst got a job at a small but well-respected boutique firm in Toronto and was mentored by a lawyer who did nothing but very sophisticated lending work.

“I eventually articled there and became an associate working on large syndicated transactions,” he says.

In addition to being called to the Ontario bar in 1989, Horst was also called to the Bermuda bar in 1997 — where he practised for a few years in the late 1990s.

“I was interviewing for a job in Bermuda, although I really didn’t think it was for me. The firm was pretty persistent and asked that I come visit, so my wife and I decided we would visit for a weekend, tour around, and then politely decline the offer,” he says.

Instead, by the end of the trip they were looking at real estate.

“It was a great experience," he recalls. "Our children were little at that time and the work pace in Bermuda is not what it is in Toronto. It was wonderful to have that time to spend with the kids and it’s something that can never be taken away.”

In addition to Horst’s busy law practice, he presently teaches at Queen’s University and previously taught at at the University of Western Ontario.

“I enjoy working with law students,” he says. “They sometimes look at things in a completely different way and sort of challenge the status quo. It keeps my mind sharp.”