DAVID MARTIN
PARTNER
About David
David is a Vancouverite (St. Paul’s Hospital alumni) who grew up in rainy and misty North Vancouver. He commenced practice in British Columbia in 1995 and has practised his entire career in Vancouver.
While most of David’s time has been spent in private practice, he also had the opportunity to work as in-house counsel for a very entrepreneurial and fast paced family owned company that owned business interests across Canada. This gave David the chance to observe firsthand how legal services are viewed and used by the client, the person who pays the legal bills and makes use of the legal advice.
David has a broad range of general corporate commercial experience, with a focus on commercial real estate and lending matters.
Transaction Experience
- Lead counsel for the vendor for the sale of an Alberta multi-building apartment complex that sold for over $130 million.
- Lead counsel to tenant to negotiate lease of headquarters office space for: (1) a BC credit union in Surrey; (2) a telecommunication company at Metrotown, Burnaby; and (3) an entertainment company in new office premises in Pacific Centre at 725 Granville Street.
- BC counsel to a telecommunication company with respect to management of its real property holdings in British Columbia.
- BC counsel with respect to loan security for a downtown Vancouver hotel ($80M); downtown Calgary hotel ($82.5M); and British Columbia airport hotel ($45M).
- Lead counsel for developer of multi-residential buildings in the village centre of a master planned community on First Nations lands.
- Lead counsel for settlement of a law suit by multiple investors against a Vancouver developer and buyout of the disgruntled investor group, including new acquisition financing from a private lender and mezzanine financing from the bought-out investors.
- Member of Vancouver team that advised buyer’s lender with respect to buyer’s acquisition of a supermarket chain with stores across western Canada for $5.8B.
- Lead real estate counsel for buyer with respect to the purchase of approximately 275 retail leasehold interests across Canada from a vendor in CCAA proceedings.
Education & Industry Involvement
Education
David obtained his Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Laws from the University of British Columbia. He was called to the Bar in British Columbia in 1995.
Membership & Volunteering
David is a current member of:
- Canadian Bar Association (Banking, Business, Natural Resources and Real Estate Group subsections)
- Urban Land Institute
David is a former:
- Chair of the Urban Land Institute of British Columbia (2014-2015); Treasurer and Co-Chair; Sponsorship Committee
- Adjunct professor at the University of British Columbia (2006-2011), Real Estate Development Seminar
- Secretary of Ronald McDonald House (2001-2002)
Speaking Engagements
David has made presentations to:
- BC Professional Legal Training Course
- Lorman Education Services
- Royal Institute of Chartered Accountants
- The Continuing Legal Education Society of BC
In the News
Vancouver Sun “Message from David A. Martin, Fasken Martineau, Chair of ULI BC Management Committee” (April 2014)
Business in Vancouver “Investors drive up property value as appraisers consider changes” (December 22, 2015) Read Article
Personal
David reports to three CEOs (a wife and two daughters) and two middle managers (two cats but would really prefer a dog). A long, long time ago David was flipping burgers at McDonald’s at Expo 86 for $4 per hour. While his work ethic has not changed, his hourly rate has increased a little.