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MANAGING PARTNER A capital practice BY GAIL J . COHEN practice focuses primarily on real estate, secured lending, and mortgage enforcement, talks to Canadian Lawyer about practising law in Ottawa and how the scene has changed since he was called to the bar in 1989. W Q For our internal structure, no. We try to have an as integrated approach as possible but for external purposes, we really do have a particular focus in Kanata, which is technology. . . . That was the impetus for locating the of- fice there as well, it's the hub of technol- ogy in the area. By having an office there we felt we were closer to the people we needed to be close to and try to build up our technology practice. Q Even downtown, the interesting thing about law these days is that geography is less and less relevant. I guess to some degree it seems a little counter- intuitive that we put an office geographi- cally proximate to the technology busi- nesses but for some reason, I think the research we did in terms of Kanata was telling us that people did care, that it did make a difference to the technology people, that they have services provid- ers, and lawyers and people were part of that local community. . . . We have prac- tices that really vary. There are people who have local practices, there are peo- ple who have national practices, and we even have international practices here. On a national level, you'll see a lot more co-ordination and co-operation between offices on an industry level. So we've got a financial services industry group . . . and an energy and infrastructure group that's very busy these days. They're actu- ally branching out internationally now. We've got a life sciences group. We've got a technology group. There is a govern- ment relations group. Q ayne Kerrick is the managing partner of Gowlings' two Ottawa offices — one in the downtown core and another in suburban Kanata — that boast 170 profes- sionals including both lawyers and patent and trademark agents. Kerrick, whose I think I'd have to say that it's the concept that the whole world in shrinking. Local practice mattered a lot more. Now because of technological ad- vancements, now because of the ability to move information around very eas- ily from one place to another, because of the trend for a lot of businesses to try and consolidate head offices or certain actions in certain places, the local pres- ence is not as important. Q Gowlings is a little bit different be- cause we do have a nice variety of practice. While we do have the people who can do the big, corporate M&A work and the securities work and we have a number of those deals, we don't live and die on the big deals. Things have actually been quite good for us this year. . . . But I'd be lying to you if I didn't say that there is a great deal of concern throughout our of- fice. I could give you some sort of predic- tion but that and $3.75 gets you a grande latte at Starbucks. Q One thing is that it's a lot more man- ageable. . . . I grew up in Montreal, my wife's from Boston and she worked in New York City. This is still a place where you can live downtown and walk to work. It's affordable. If you choose not to live downtown and you want to live in www. one of the suburbs, you're not more than 15 minutes away. . . . There are a number of people who live on the Quebec side here who, at 15 or 20 minutes away, they are actually in what most people would consider to be a cottage. I think there's a great quality of life to be had. That's not to say that people don't have to work hard because I think you'll find that if you go to the larger firms here, they're working extremely hard. . . .We have some of the leaders in the country in a number of dif- ferent areas. So you can have a balance between having an interesting and satis- fying career and also great quality of life. Q It's hard to answer that question without saying a little bit more about myself. When I was 10 years old, I drew up retainer notes for my friends. I actually had a few of my friends on re- tainer for five cents a month. They signed these things that I would give them gen- eral advice. I'm a checklist kind of per- son, I like to get things done. . . . For me, one of the best things is the feeling that I'm actually helping people, that things are getting done, and that I'm able to solve problems. . . . Being a lawyer has put me in a position where I can satisfy this need to feel that I'm actually accom- plishing something with my life. To read more of WAYNE KERRICK'S inter- view with Canadian Lawyer, visit us online at canadianlawyermag.com mag.com NO VEMBER / DECEMBER 2008 15 PHOTO: JEAN-MARC CARISSE