Canadian law firms hold their own when it comes to making money, U.S. legal publication says
Canada’s homegrown law firms are holding their own in Legal Week’s international law firm rankings October 17, 2016 Canada’s homegrown law firms, the ones who have not been absorbed by the global behemoths and who still have most of their lawyers in Canada, are holding their own in international law firm rankings. Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt […]
Generation Lex: Law schools seek balance between theory and practice
The battle for the modern law school: academic study in one corner of the ring, practical knowledge in the other April 25, 2017 Traditional bastions of legal learning are moving with the times by incorporating a more practical approach to legal education, yet critics say that they have not moved far enough or quickly enough […]
Ontario rent controls an opportunity lost for legal profession
Friday, May 12, 2017 Rent controls and funeral homes have a commonality. Both represent opportunity in the legal market; rent controls, an opportunity lost, and funeral homes an opportunity seized. They also represent the great divide that exists between the headspace of lawyers on this side of the Atlantic and that of the profession in […]
Branding, skillful mergers the keys to Big Law success
Friday, June 02, 2017 It used to be that beyond name recognition — logos and the like — branding served only a limited purpose for law firms who sold services based for the most part on the individual expertise of their lawyers or their practice groups. But as personal contact declined in a globalized, connected […]
Change in values needed as firms shift away from billable hour targets
Friday, June 09, 2017 The news that global giant Linklaters, the archetypal bastion of lockstep compensation and individual billing targets, is moving away from these cornerstones, is both welcome and depressing news for the profession. It’s welcome because it signifies that even the most intransigent of traditionalists are recognizing the reality of an evolving profession. […]
Paralegal debate: let’s settle for ‘better’ not ‘perfect’ access to justice
Thursday, July 27, 2017 The current debate about paralegal representation in Ontario’s family courts, and the degree of opposition to it in the bar and judiciary, exemplify just how far the profession is removed from reality. The lawyers and judges opposing the change rest their case on the belief that “quality of service” will erode […]
Daimler’s innovative blockchain bond issue good and bad news for lawyers
Friday, September 01, 2017 Kiss the trusted adviser goodbye: that, it appears, is the message for the profession from Daimler AG’s recent US$115 million bond issue, all of which was done digitally using blockchain technology. We’re talking everything: from the organization, distribution, allocation and execution of the loan agreement to the confirmation of repayments and […]
Along with the name change, law society should also look at title insurance
Thursday, October 19, 2017 The Law Society of Upper Canada (LSUC) will be changing its name. Let’s hope it doesn’t use the occasion to toss its sticky if not seamy underside into the compost bin. What remains unexplained in the rush to judgment that culminated in LSUC’s new advertising and referral fees — a stampede […]
Legal teams spearheading the movement toward open office design
Friday, October 27, 2017 It’s a rare occasion when a company points to its legal team as its most forward-thinking department. But don’t tell that to the people in Sun Life Financial’s new offices at One York in Toronto. Take a millennial on a tour of the 17 floors that Sun Life’s 2,000 employees occupy […]
Machine learning is helping to lighten legal grunts’ minutiae-laden jobs
NOV 7, 2017 Law firms are adapting to the growing number of millennials who are filling their associate ranks and moving toward partnership status by keeping up with their penchant for technology. “Millennials have grown up in the digital age and they want to cut out the mindless, tedious tasks that often characterize associates’ and […]