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34 S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 8 w w w . c a n a d i a n l a w y e r m a g . c o m As clients focus more on value than prestige, corporate boutiques have grown By Aidan Macnab T O P B O U T I Q U E S CLIENT-CENTRED GROWTH T hose leading Canadian Lawyer's top corporate law boutiques list are veterans from big firms who left to ply their trade under what they say is a more flexible, affordable but capable model. The startup economy is breeding clients who do not want to pay $1,500-an-hour fees but still need legal services to grow. Arthur Evrensel, founding partner of MEP Business Counsel, says the fact that baby boomers are getting older and a generational shift of resources is taking place is driving a lot of business at his Vancouver firm. Many have built businesses and gathered huge pools of wealth in the last 50 years and are trying to pass it down to a group that is smaller in number and often unwilling or incapable of absorbing the windfall. "Maybe the next generation doesn't want it or can't deal with it," he says. "You're seeing that huge transition and transfer of wealth from one genera- tion to either the next or to others or larger corporations. So that's certainly pushed our business." MEP Business Counsel's clients include many in the entertainment sector, new-media startups and some cannabis startups. Evrensel says he has seen a lot of consolidation in these fields. The firm's "sweet spot," he says, is pri- vate companies that have grown to a certain size and either need capital to grow, sell, make acquisitions or merge. "We decided very early on that we're going to focus as much on the business aspect of practising law as on the legal aspect," he says. "So, the business-first thinking is some- thing that we're very proud of, bringing together legal expertise and commercial understanding," he says. Before becoming a lawyer, Jennifer Allen, of Allen McDonald Swartz LLP, worked in the financial services industry. She then spent 14 years at Bay Street law firms doing corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions and private equity. The firm she and Fraser McDonald co- founded in 2015 has five lawyers. Since she began practising, Allen says, she has seen a shift in what clients are looking for from her firm. Whereas the name and prestige