Rachel Nicholson

RACHEL is a partner with Thornton Grout Finnigan LLP, where her practice focuses on restructuring and insolvency, including the enforcement of creditors’ rights, assisting debtors with in- or out-of-court workouts, distressed investing and purchases, and acting for court-appointed monitors and receivers. She also has extensive experience with cross-border and international mandates, with a particular depth in U.S. proceedings.

Rachel is an active leader in various industry associations. She is currently on the Social Media Committee of the Turnaround Management Association’s (TMA’s) Toronto Chapter, and previously served as chair of the TMA Toronto Chapter’s Next Gen Committee. She also has held various roles as a director with the International Women’s Insolvency & Restructuring Confederation’s (IWIRC’s) Ontario Network. She is a member of The Advocates’ Society, the Toronto Lawyer’s Association, and the Canadian and Ontario Bar Associations. She also is a member of the International Insolvency Institute’s Next Gen Leadership Program and a co-editor of TGF Topline, a quarterly publication on restructuring and litigation cases. In addition, she regularly speaks on panels on a broad range of insolvency topics. Her prior speaking engagements include the Annual Review of Insolvency Law, the largest annual conference for restructuring professionals in Canada, and ABI’s Cross-Border Insolvency Program in 2022.

Rachel was recognized as an “Up and Coming” lawyer by Chambers and Partners in its 2023 Canada Guide and as an “Associate to Watch” by Chambers and Partners in its 2023 Canada Guide, and she was selected in The Best Lawyers in Canada as one of the “Ones to Watch” in Insolvency and Financial Restructuring Law in its 2023 and 2024 editions. She also received IWIRC’s Semi-Finalist Rising Star Award in 2018. She enjoys giving back to the community, which has included organizing her firm’s annual chili cook-off event, which raised $37,000 for the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada. In 2019, she organized the charity event at TMA’s NextGen Conference, which resulted in 300 survival winter kits being packed and distributed to homeless persons in Toronto. She also sat on the TMA Toronto Chapter’s Spring Gala Committee, an annual marquee event that honors women in restructuring. As part of her involvement, she assisted with soliciting donations for the silent auction, which raises money for a different local charity each year. Also in 2022, she participated in the Toronto Corporate Run, a 5K run in Toronto that raised $24,750 for various charities where her firm was a top team fundraiser. Within her firm, she is an informal mentor to young women in insolvency and serves on its Student Recruitment Committee.