Daniel P. Ferguson is a Canadian lawyer and partner at WeirFoulds LLP in Toronto, Ontario, where he practices commercial and infrastructure law. He is known for his work on public-private partnerships (P3s) and municipal infrastructure projects, and he was called to the Ontario bar in 1984.
Background
The documented record of Daniel Ferguson begins in Toronto, the capital of Ontario, where he completed his undergraduate studies and later built his legal career. Toronto had become a major industrial center of Ontario by the late nineteenth century, and the law firm with which Ferguson later practiced has been rooted in the city since 1860.
His education and career place him within the Ontario legal and academic institutions of Toronto, a city whose universities and law firms shaped the province's professional life during the later twentieth century.
Education
Ferguson received a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Toronto in 1978. The university was founded as King's College by royal charter in 1827, becoming the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada, and it was originally controlled by the Church of England. It became a secular institution and took the name University of Toronto in 1850, and today it is organized as a federation of colleges. Its Faculty of Arts and Science, which provides the liberal arts foundation of undergraduate study, is the largest faculty in the university.
Ferguson also earned a Bachelor of Laws at Osgoode Hall Law School. The school was established in 1889 by the Law Society of Upper Canada and was Ontario's only official law school until 1957. It was housed in the Osgoode Hall building until 1968, when it moved to York University.
Career
Ferguson's professional career has been spent with WeirFoulds LLP, a Toronto law firm whose origins date to 1860. The firm grew alongside the industrial development of Toronto in the late nineteenth century, and its core areas of practice include litigation, corporate, property, and government law.
Ferguson is a partner in the firm's commercial and infrastructure projects practice, which covers financing, mergers and acquisitions, corporate reorganization, and general advice to commercial clients. His work includes the structuring and financing of public-private partnerships, in which public authorities and private partners share responsibility for delivering infrastructure. He has in-depth expertise in risk allocation, project structuring, and documentation for the design, build, operation, and financing of such projects.
He has also contributed to professional education and public debate on infrastructure. He presented at WeirFoulds municipal seminars and at conferences organized by the Canadian Institute and the Association of Municipal Managers, Clerks and Treasurers of Ontario. He co-chaired the firm's infrastructure and public projects practice, and WeirFoulds partners, including Ferguson, were listed as Canadian contributors to the World Bank's 2018 report on procuring public-private partnership infrastructure.
(Co-written with Bradley McLellan and prepared for the 201...)
2010
Membership
The Law Society of Upper Canada was founded in 1797 and was the self-governing body for lawyers in Ontario. It licensed practitioners and, until 1957, controlled entry to the Ontario legal profession through its own legal education. The Society was later renamed the Law Society of Ontario.
Ferguson's association with the Society began in 1984, when he was called to the Ontario bar.
Called to the Bar of Ontario
Law Society of Upper Canada
,
Canada
1984 - present
Connections
Ferguson's documented professional connections center on WeirFoulds LLP, where he works alongside colleagues in the infrastructure, corporate, and private equity practices. He co-wrote several articles on public-private partnerships with fellow WeirFoulds partner Bradley McLellan, including work on structuring P3 projects and on the decision whether a P3 suits a given infrastructure project.
Collegue :
Bradley McLellan
WeirFoulds partner who co-authored several articles and presentations on public-private partnerships with Ferguson, including 'To P3 Or Not To P3' (2010).
References
WeirFoulds LLP, Daniel Ferguson profile
Firm profile describing Ferguson's partnership, his call to the Ontario bar in 1984, his University of Toronto Bachelor of Arts (1978), his commercial and infrastructure practice, and his selected presentations and publications.
