The most widely read magazine for Canadian lawyers
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Sponsored by: es Blanchard, chairman and chief executive officer of McCarthy Tétrault LLP, which has about 600 lawyers in five offices in Canada and the U.K. Marc-André while acting as a barrier to access to justice. That is perhaps a bit harsh but there's no doubt that Canada — specifically the provincial regulators — is well behind the United Kingdom and even Australia in adapting to new realities. Alternative business structures are barely on the radar in this country, despite rules that allow multidisciplinary practices in many jurisdictions, but the world is changing and Canada will have to catch up. The regulation of the profession is the big picture that can E A shifting economy has resulted in a transformation in the business of law. Canadian Lawyer gathered a panel of experts to discuss the changes at a roundtable on law practice management. By Gail J. Cohen conomic changes over the last few years have had a dramatic impact on the practice of law in Canada and abroad. Old ways of doing business do not work anymore and the industry is being forced to make substantial structural changes. Canada still lags behind many countries in reassessing the way the legal profes- sion is regulated, continuing, some may argue, to be a self-regulated monopoly that enriches practitioners be somewhat academic for most lawyers but the running of individual law firms and how they serve clients is something that affects every practitioner every day. There's no arguing that the way law firms func- tion is evolving and understanding and embracing change is the only way forward for operations of every size. In the last decade, many law firms have embraced more business-like structures by creat- ing executive committees, boards of directors, chief executive officer and chief operating officer positions, and other more corporate elements. The whims and desires of partners are no longer the main drivers of decisions with formal marketing and business development strategies taking over. And Canada is not the island it once was. The glo- balization of business, primarily for Canada in the strong resource sector, has changed the landscape not only for law firms but for the clients they serve. In light of the sea change occurring in the pro- fession, Canadian Lawyer gathered together five experts in law firm management — lawyers and non-lawyers at firms of various shapes and sizes — to discuss the management issues facing their firms. We held a lively roundtable in late June to address some of the most pressing matters around running a law firm in Canada today. They included the following main areas: law firm profitability and fee structures; managing the people within a firm; the globalization of law and how Canadian firms fit in; and the future of law firm structures, especially in the aftermath of legal giant Dewey & LeBoeuf's demise. The following pages highlight some of the vigorous discussion that took place around those topics. For more from the round- table, please visit us online at canadianlawyermag.com each week in September for a series of videos covering additional areas of discussion. www.CANADIAN Lawyermag.com SEPTEMBER 2012 29 John hYrniuK