Kevin Barr has considerable expertise and experience in both insolvency/ restructuring matters as well as construction disputes. He has spent much of 2023 and 2024 acting on two significant construction insolvencies. He is lead counsel to the senior secured creditor of the Zen Garden Group (a longstanding contested Alberta Receivership) and has recently secured a C$68 million partial summary judgment award against the debtor and guarantors with the balance of the claim (approximately C$50 million) being submitted to a Referee. Kevin is also counsel to the general contractor in a Manitoba CCAA proceeding. Kevin was specifically sought out by the company for his combined expertise in both insolvency and construction matters.
Over the course of his career, Kevin has regularly acted debtors, creditors, financial institutions, court-appointed monitors, receivers, and trustees. From 2020 - 2022, Kevin was engaged by a court-appointed trustee in the Cayman Islands to act pursuant to Part XIII of the BIA (cross border insolvencies) as counsel to a foreign representative. A number of successful applications were brought before the Alberta Court of King's Bench as well as before the Alberta Court of Appeal. In addition to proceedings brought in the Cayman Island and Canada, multi-jurisdictional steps were also taken in the United States, Switzerland, the Cook Islands, and Nevis.
Kevin has been recognized in the Canadian Legal Lexpert® Directory (repeatedly recommended for Construction Law) and has been recognized in the Lexpert Special Edition on Canada’s Leading Infrastructure Lawyers since 2022. is a former Chair of the Canadian Bar Association Bankruptcy & Insolvency Sub-section. He also has a longstanding history of contributions to his community outside the practice of law. He was a member of the Board of Directors of Hospice Calgary from 2012 - 2021 (serving as Board Chair from 2015 - 2020) and is currently a member of the Board of Directors of Fort Calgary.
Updated April 2024
