The Supreme Court
By
Yves Faguy
December 22, 2017
22 December 2017
Next year the Supreme Court of Canada will hand down its rulings in a number of closely watched cases, namely Williams Lake Indian Band, Deloitte & Touche v.Livent Inc., TWU and the Comeau ”free the beer” case. We recently sat down with Lynne Watt, a partner in Gowling WLG’s Ottawa office and leader of the firm’s Supreme Court of Canada Services Group. In the above video, Watt gives us a preview of what to look out for in the coming year at the SCC. She also shares her insight on the new composition of the court.
Legal marketplace
By
Yves Faguy
December 21, 2017
21 December 2017
As the year draws to a close, it’s time to take a peak at what 2018 might have in store for the legal market in Canada. In our annual year-end interview, legal market analyst (and former editor-in-chief of this magazine) Jordan Furlong shares his insight on changes to the regulatory landscape in this country, the challenges law firms face in modernizing their business, and why it’s important to keep an eye on the Big Four accounting firms moving into the legal space in North America. He also offers up one big prediction, so tune in until the end.
CBA Futures
By
Yves Faguy
December 21, 2017
21 December 2017
Time for a last round-up in 2017 of trends and developments that highlight innovation in the legal industry.
Let’s start with a shout out to Aird & Berlis who is partnering with legal tech company Diligen to develop AI-based products in its M&A and real estate practices.
Another Toronto legal tech outfit, Loom Analytics, is offering a legal analytics tool for settled matters that don’t have public court record.
Dentons Canada has announced that it is joining the Global Legal Blockchain Consortium (GLBC), whose mandate is to adopt policies that promote a universal, blockchain-based technology infrastructure for law.
Global law firm Clyde & Co has launched an in house data analytics lab that will be composed of legal, data science and strategy staff, and students from University College London’s computer science department. The initiative was launched with a view to accelerating the firm’s development of new products and services.
London-based multinational firm Clifford Chance is launching a new technology group – “not a designated practice area” – emulating the Big Four accounting firms aimed at addressing issues raised by new technology in IP, fintech and antitrust.
LegalWorks Nordic and Axiom have entered into a strategic collaboration to service customers in Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland.
The Supreme Court
By
Yves Faguy
December 12, 2017
12 December 2017
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced that Richard Wagner will be the new Chief Justice of Canada, replacing Beverley McLachlin who retires on Friday. The pick is hardly a major surprise. Tradition – to the extent there is one – suggested that Justice Wagner, 60, as the most senior member of Quebec, was the safe bet. This is especially so, as Justice Rosalie Abella, the most senior member on the bench, would have to retire in four years. Prime Minister Stephen Harper appointed Justice Wagner to the Supreme Court in 2012. Prior to that he had been appointed to the Quebec Superior Court in 2005, before being elevated to the Quebec Court of Appeal in 2011.
He became a member of the Canadian Bar Association in 1980 until he was appointed to the bench in 2004. Wagner sat on the board of the Association’s Quebec Branch and was president of, among others, the Construction Law Section.
Legal marketplace
By
Yves Faguy
December 8, 2017
8 December 2017
The law firm partnership model has been at the heart of the legal profession’s prosperity for much of the last century. But after decades of enviable growth, it is showing signs of wear. Now, as the legal industry faces major challenges on several fronts, the question is whether it can evolve with the times.
“I just don't think it's going to happen,” says Jordan Furlong, the Ottawa-based legal industry analyst. “The vast majority of law firms are incapable – not necessarily unwilling, though many are – of addressing the fundamental flaws at the heart of their model and making significant structural changes to address them.”
Furlong is not alone in doubting whether the old model can weather the combined forces of technology, globalization and a shift towards a buyer’s market for legal services. “What you’re seeing now is that the strains on the industry are revealing the issues that come with partnership,” says Janet Stanton, a partner at Adam Smith Esq, a New York-based consultancy for the legal industry. Stanton even challenges the notion that partnership was ever all that great a success. “Frankly, everybody was making a lot of money, so it didn’t really matter how they were organized,” she says.