Michael R. Carman


We mourn the passing of our long time friend and partner, Mike Carman, after a long battle with cancer.

Mike graduated from York University with a B.A. in 1975, and received his LL.B. from the University of Western Ontario in 1982. He was called to the Ontario Bar in 1984. Mike joined Stikeman Elliott in 1992 as a partner, to start our securitization practice. Under his leadership, our Structured Finance and Financial Products Group grew and has continued to be considered one of Canada's elite practices in the field.

Mike had a widely-acknowledged reputation as one of the leading structured finance lawyers in the world. He was one of the first lawyers world-wide to work on swap contracts, and his work acting for the International Swaps and Derivatives Association and his early interest in swaps resulted in Stikeman Elliott being the leading firm in Canada and one of the most prominent firms in the world in the area of derivatives products, a distinction it continues to enjoy. The Euromoney Legal Media Group's guide, The Best of the Best, named Mike as "one of the world's 25 leading structured finance lawyers", with Mike as the only Canadian lawyer on the list. Mike was also recognized by a number of other organizations, including Law Business Research's 2001 An International Who's Who of Securitization Lawyers and its The International Who's Who of Business Lawyers; LEXPERT/American Lawyer Media publication, A Guide to the Leading 500 Lawyers in Canada, for both asset securitization and derivatives; and the Canadian LEXPERT legal directory as a practitioner most frequently recommended in the fields of derivatives and securitization.

Mike was known throughout the firm's Toronto office for his laid back demeanour, approachable personality and sense of humour. He was also well known for his casual attire and his love of conversation, and he always had a well-considered opinion on the various issues facing Stikeman Elliott. He invariably made time to share his expertise with others, and had a talent for explaining the highly complex concepts in his specialized area to non-specialist colleagues and clients in a clear, user-friendly and collegial way. As the head of the Structured Finance and Financial Products Group, he built our group by generating and handing over work to our young lawyers and assisting, mentoring and coaching those lawyers in developing their expertise and reputation.  He was immensely proud of the success and reputations that those younger lawyers have achieved over the years as they have become our partners.  As a leader and mentor, he was committed and tremendously loyal.

Mike had a great love for sports and a keen passion for baseball in particular and was his son Robert's biggest fan. In his last year, he took a huge amount of pride and enjoyment in the success that Rob had and continues to have playing baseball at the U.S. collegiate level. In his last days, his one remaining wish was to go to Florida to see his son start for St. Lawrence College. That wish was fulfilled.

Mike will be dearly missed by all of us. We express our heartfelt condolences to his wife Cathy and his son Rob.

A memorial service in Mike's honour will be held Monday, May 11 at 2 p.m. at Deer Creek Golf Club at 2700 Audley Road North in Ajax, Ontario.