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TOP 10 ONTARIO REGIONAL FIRMS

EFFICIENCY,FLEXIBILITY,

AND FOCUS

Despite muted activity in pockets of the legal market and the Canadian economy facing tough headwinds, Ontario’s top regional law firms say they’ve had a solid couple of years thanks to emerging opportu-nities and their unrelenting focus on efficiency.

With Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP announcing in July its merger with U.K.-based Wragge Lawrence Graham & Co, the bigger shops continue the trend of going global for want of larger markets. Meanwhile, Ontario’s regional firms are expanding their own reach at home by picking up new clients who are choosing leaner structures over “too big” firms.

At the top of this year’s Ontario regional firm rankings, Toronto-based WeirFoulds LLP touts itself as being “of a shape and size” that appeals to its clients. “We’re not composed of a partnership that’s looking to conquer the world geographically,” says managing partner Michael Statham. “Knowing who you are is critical; that remains 100-per-cent true.”

As clients look to reduce legal costs, Statham says the firm is meeting its needs using fewer lawyers. “We’re able to assemble leaner teams on deals, on commercial transactions — whether it involves M&A work or it involves real estate or litigation,” he says.

Aird & Berlis LLP, second on this year’s list, says it has continued to grow in a rapidly changing legal environment. The firm has focused on spotting

new opportunities and capitalizing on them, says former managing partner Eldon Bennett. The challenge, he says, is to first “figure out where opportunities are struc-turally, given the changing face of law. Secondly, it’s a fast-changing world, so you look where the practice opportunities are coming down the road.”

While a weaker loonie may be making them attractive to clients in the U.S. and internationally, many of the regional firms say they have yet to notice a tangible impact of the exchange rate. That may be due to uncertainties over the global economy — concerns about China slowing down and doubts about Europe’s recovery — have stifled the M&A market internationally, says Bennett. “Fortu-nately, being in the mid-market, that’s where the vast majority of the deals that do exist are, so we certainly get our fair share of them,” adds Bennett. He reports revenue-wise, each of the last two years were better for his firm than the year previously. “In a difficult market, it’s been very good.”

Paying attention to how clients are responding to the economy is helping Lern-ers LLP thrive, according to London, Ont.-based partner Graham Porter. “Our firm emphasizes highly reactive services, we want to make sure the client always feels well taken care of, and we try to be as responsive as possible,” he says. “There

CANADIAN LAWYER’S TOP 10 ONTARIO REGIONAL LAW FIRMS ARE HOLDING STRONG IN A MARKET FILLING WITH GLOBAL COMPETITORS.

BY YAMRI TADDESE

Canadian Lawyer asked lawyers, in-house counsel, and clients from across Canada to vote on the top full-service, regional firms in Ontario. They were asked to rank their top 10 firms from a preliminary list, with a chance to nominate a firm that was not included on the lists. Respondents’ rankings were based on firms’ regional service coverage, client base, notable mandates, service excellence, and legal expertise. To be considered in the vote, firms were required to have offices only in Ontario, and offer a wide range of legal services. The final rankings were deter-mined through a points system, in which firms were rewarded on a sliding scale for the number of first- to 10th-place votes received.

HOW WE DID IT

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are definitely challenging headwinds in front of us for the next few years.” But, interestingly, Porter notes, there are particular industries showing strengths even through the tough times. Over the years, Southern Ontario lost a lot of manufacturing strength, whereas, despite some challenges, opportunities remain for clients in the mining and forestry sector.

Part of the challenge in a rapidly changing environment is teaching lawyers to be amenable, says Bobby Sachdeva, manag-ing partner of Pallett Valo LLP in Mississauga, Ont. “One of our strongest areas used to be insolvency; the insolvency market hasn’t been great for the last three years. So it’s teaching our people again that you can’t just specialize in being an insolvency lawyer,” he says. “If you’re an insolvency lawyer, you do litiga-tion, and you also do the corporate side of insolvency so that we can move you around like chess pieces to different groups that are busy. It makes it a lot easier for us to adapt to the changing environment.”

At Fogler, Rubinoff LLP, new opportunities have sometimes arisen in unexpected ways. While securities work has generally been slow, the firm says it acted as counsel for marijuana-infused products company Nutritional High International Inc. in the company’s first public offering. It was “certainly something we never would have thought of,” says managing partner Michael Appleton. “But it was actually made quite public.”

The firm has also been involved in matters related to aborigi-nal lands, Appleton says. “It’s all areas that when they came up, we somehow managed to get involved. We do manage to create

some synergies with the lawyers getting together to create busi-ness in that area.”

Sachdeva says it’s helpful that both partners and associates at his firm have embraced entrepreneurial skills. While the firm doesn’t require its younger associates to bring in work from the get-go, he says they’re still expected to build networks and create relationships that will bear fruit in the future. “If you’re not going to engage in business development, and there’s a lot of ways to do business development, if you don’t want to engage in it, chances are you don’t want to be working with us,” he says.

In fact, for a firm of its size, hiring and succession planning are the biggest challenges, he says. “We have to be better at hiring than the bigger firms because there’s less margin for error. Then you have to keep an eye on where your age levels are. The biggest danger for a firm our size is hollowing out; you end up with a bunch of people who are 55, 60, and over and a bunch of associ-ates who are 30 and under because it’s very, very difficult to bring in laterals who are in the 35-to-45 range.

“You constantly have to watch where your levels are on your associates and which partners are approaching retirement, who’s going to step into their shoes and you can’t wait until two years before, you have to look at that five, seven years in advance,” Sachdeva says.

The top 10 firms on this year’s list share a drive to show clients it’s possible to marry big-firm expertise with reduced costs and flex-ibility, and they’re busy proving it.

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TOP 10 ONTARIO REGIONAL FIRMS

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TOP 10 ONTARIO REGIONAL FIRMS

Total lawyers: 113Lawyers by office: Toronto, 111; Ottawa, 2Core practice areas: Business law including corporate, securities, IP/IT; energy and environmental law; commercial real estate including condominium law and leasing; financial services; litigation, includ-ing labour & employment and environmental law; tax; wills, and estatesKey clients: Canadian Solar Solutions Inc.; Riocan REIT; FirstService Corp.; Suncor; Computershare; TD, HSBC, and other major banksNotable mandates: Plan of arrangement to separate FirstService Corp. and Colliers Realty; acquisition, development, financing, and sale of multiple utility scale solar projects for Canadian Solar; represen-tation of Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. in landmark decision of Federal Court and Federal Court of Appeal on right to dismiss unionized employees without cause; representation of developers on significant condo and mixed use projects including Art Shoppe Condos and The One; initial public offerings for Imperus Labs and Nutritional High.Star alumni: Ed Sonshine, founder and CEO of RioCan REIT; Jay Hennick, founder and chairman of FirstService Corp.; Michael Kline, senior vice president of legal and business affairs at LoyaltyOne Co.; Eugene McBurney, co-founder, director, and chairman of Griffiths McBurney Canada Corp.; Ontario Superior Court Justice Arthur Gans.Affiliations: International Lawyers NetworkFirm history: The firm of Fogler Rubinoff, with 25 lawyers, was created in 1982 through a merger of the firms of Siegal Fogler and Rubinoff & Rubinoff. In the 33 years since the merger, the firm has more than quadrupled in size and has diversified its areas of practice, creating a full-service business law firm.

“In the last few years, Foglers has expanded in the core service areas of litigation and real estate with the lateral addition of seasoned senior partners,” says managing partner Michael Appleton. “We have also expanded its service offerings with the addition of energy, gaming, and aboriginal practice groups.” Michael Slan, who becomes managing partner next year, says the firm is “a sweet spot for entrepreneurs and corporate counsel alike. We have big firm expertise yet provide great value and flexibility to our clients.”

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