Canadian Lawyer

September 2009

The most widely read magazine for Canadian lawyers

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Wine-ing A lot of Canada's growing wine industry off ers lawyers opportunities for both business and pleasure. B Y GLENN K AUTH I nspired by his father and grandfather, Chris Wilson has long had a taste for fi ne wines. So he's quite grateful when- ever he can integrate his interest in wine with his legal business. "Th e more I can combine my practice in trademark law with my passion for wine, the happier I am," says the partner with Bull Housser & Tupper LLP in Vancouver. In his case, Wilson has winery clients he fi nds himself increasingly advising on ways to protect their brands. But for other lawyers, wine is all about busi- ness. Eugene Kwan, for example, found himself the rather surprised owner of a Vancouver-area winery four years ago when a friend raised the idea of looking for a property to invest in. Kwan went along for the ride and ended up buying the fi rst one he looked at, Domaine de Chaberton Estate Winery, near Langley. "Th at shows you the level of interest I had in wine," says Kwan, who besides running the business has come out of retirement to return as counsel to Stikeman Elliott LLP in Vancouver. "I never went to an Okanagan tour or anything else. It was the very fi rst winery I'd ever been to. So I wound up buying it." Before that, Kwan headed up Stikemans' offi ce in Hong Kong, a place he says was crazy for high- priced wines at the time. Th at experience fi ne-tuned his palate, but Kwan still sees his winery business more as an investment than a hobby. "I enjoy my wines. But I haven't got to the point where it's become a passion with me. I'm not going to spend 10 minutes analyzing the wine. I'm an east-end Vancouver guy. I went to Van Tech. I've got to get that buzz in me." Nevertheless, with the wine industry grow- ing quickly in recent years, particularly in British Columbia, Ontario, and Nova Scotia, lawyers who know their vintages are discovering new oppor- tunities to put their interest to good use in their practices. In Vancouver lawyer Mark Hicken's case, he has ramped down his own trusts and estates practice to focus more on winery clients. Part of what he does now is consulting on marketing issues, but he also off ers legal services, especially on questions around distribution. www. C ANADIAN Law ye rmag.com SEPTEMBER 2009 41

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