Michael E. Burke

Michael E. Burke has been a partner in the Financial Services Group in the Toronto office of Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP since 1994. His practice focuses on transactional work (primarily in the securitization and asset-based lending/leasing areas). He also advises on the development and modernization of wholesale and retail (consumer) lending/leasing programs for vehicle and equipment lessors, financiers, and suppliers, as well as on complex opinion issues relating to secured transactions and structured finance transactions.

Michael has consistently been recognized by his peers and clients as one of Canada’s top lawyers in the securitization and equipment leasing/finance areas. Michael is the longest-serving chair of the Ontario Bar Association’s Personal Property Security Law Committee, the work of which has been responsible for virtually all major amendments to Ontario’s Personal Property Security Act since 2000. He was named twice (in 2020 and 2015) the Equipment Finance Law “Lawyer of the Year” in Toronto by Best Lawyers. In 2016, he was inducted as a fellow of the American College of Commercial Finance Lawyers for his substantial contributions to the promotion of learning, scholarship, and legislative reform in commercial finance law. 

Since 2018, Michael has been an adjunct professor at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Law, where he co-teaches Secured Transactions with Mark Selick. Michael regularly writes and speaks at conferences and seminars on securitizations, equipment and consumer leasing, and secured transactions.