France M. Tenaille

About France M. Tenaille

France Tenaille leads Gowling WLG's Latin America team from the Toronto office, and natural resources and energy clients are a particular focus. As a partner, France handles M&A, corporate finance and project finance, plus the commercial matters that sit around them, and belongs to the firm's Business Law, Energy, Infrastructure and Mining groups.

The legal career started in Venezuela, with a call there in 1993 and over five years of practice with a major Caracas firm before France immigrated to Canada. France also holds an LL.M. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, earned a Certificate of Qualification from the National Committee of Accreditation in 2003 and was called in Ontario in 2004. That's over three decades of practice in total, more than 25 years of it in Canada.

Fluent in Spanish and trained in both civil and common law, France works on Latin American matters for Canadian and international clients, and on Canadian business for clients based in Latin America. Representative deals include a Canadian IPO and TSX listing for Mineros S.A., paired with a concurrent public offering in Colombia, Zijin Mining Group's purchase of Guyana Goldfields, and Goldcorp's acquisition of an interest in the El Morro mine in Chile.

Speaking invitations come often, at Canadian and international events alike, from the International Bar Association's conferences in Mexico City and Uruguay to a mining law course in Santiago. Chambers Global ranks France for cross-border mining work in Canada, and Best Lawyers chose France as Toronto's Lawyer of the Year for Mining Law in 2023.