Sheldon L. Disenhouse

Sheldon L. Disenhouse is a Partner at Dentons, based in Toronto, with a practice that focuses exclusively on commercial leasing. His practice focuses on Real Estate Law.

With more than three decades acting on behalf of developers, retailers, landlords and tenants, Sheldon has earned a reputation as one of the country's most distinguished lawyers and insightful thought leaders on every aspect and intricacy surrounding commercial leasing.

Supported by a team of accomplished paralegals, Sheldon has extensive experience in drafting and negotiating leases and related ancillary documentation for office, retail and industrial spaces on behalf of his diverse client base, which includes REITs, major public companies, and national and international retailers.

Given his professionalism and leadership in commercial leasing, as well as his longstanding relationships with major market players, Sheldon is consistently named one of Canada's leading lawyers in Commercial Leasing Law, Property Leasing and Franchise Law. He is recognised internationally as among North America's Leading 500 Lawyers. He is a dynamic speaker on these topics and has written about them in a wide range of national and international publications.

His experience includes advising Shopify Inc. on the negotiation of one lease of 433,752 square feet of office space at The Well Tower and one lease of 158,520 square feet of office space at the King Portland Centre, both in downtown Toronto, with a combined value in excess of CA$600 million; advising Shoppers Realty Inc. on the negotiation of the sale and leaseback of four different portfolios of locations (23 in total) in various provinces in Canada, with a combined value in excess of CA$100 million; advising IBI Group on the negotiation of the lease of more than 100,000 square feet for its head office in midtown Toronto; advising Kraft Heinz Canada ULC on the negotiation of a build-to-suit lease for warehouse and distribution space of approximately 774,614 square feet in Halton Hills, ON; and advising Infrastructure Ontario on the negotiation of a number of ground leases for hospitals in Ontario.

To complement his busy practice, Sheldon is extremely active in his industry and his community. He is a past co-chair of the Canadian Law Conference of the International Council of Shopping Centers, and has been involved in numerous communal organisations, including committees of the Jewish Federation of Greater Toronto, chair of Camp Ramah in Canada and the National Ramah Commission (New York), and the executive of Toronto Hebrew Memorial Parks.

He holds an LL.B. from Osgoode Hall Law School, York University (1981) and an Honors B.A. from the University of Toronto (1978).

He is recognised by The Legal 500 Canada for Real Estate, by The Best Lawyers in Canada for Commercial Leasing Law, Franchise Law and Real Estate Law, by The Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory for Property Leasing and Franchising Law, in The Lexpert/American Lawyer Guide to the Leading 500 Lawyers in Canada for Property Leasing, and in The Lexpert Guide to US/Canada Cross-Border Lawyers in Canada for Business Issues. He holds a Martindale-Hubbell BV Distinguished Peer Review Rating, received the OBA Markus Cohen, Q.C., Memorial Award for Excellence in Franchise Law (2021) and was named "Lawyer of the Year" by Best Lawyers for Commercial Leasing Law, Toronto (2020).