Canadian Lawyer

w w w . c a n a d i a n l a w y e r m a g . c o m J A N U A R Y 2 0 1 9 17 Ontario, for example. According to figures from the Law Society of Ontario, in 2017, law firms with more than 51 lawyers constituted 19.7 per cent of licensees, down from 21 per cent in 2013. Firms with two to 10 lawyers inched up to 31.7 from 30 per cent in 2013. Seto notes that the level of sole practitioners is holding. "The numbers seem to indicate that it's viable." The breakdown is similar in other provinces. In B.C., sole practitioners account for 71 per cent of law firms, while two- to five-lawyer firms account for 21 per cent. In Alberta, there has been a growth spurt in small firms. The number of lawyers practising at two- to 10-lawyer firms has grown to 2,960 at the end of October from 2,054 practitioners in 2017. The number of sole practitioners has also bumped up in that province. Skeptics might say the growth in smaller firms is because busi- ness is slow at big law firms and they are shedding people. New graduates are also forced to go out on their own. That's partly true, says Ballagh, who is part of the LSO's Coach and Advisor Network, which mentors lawyers. She notes that some graduates start their own firms, but it's not easy, noting it takes up to five years to learn to practise law after being called to the bar. Then there's the chal- lenge in learning to run a business. It's easier, she says, when you "have a book of business." Probably the biggest change that sole and small firms have seen recently is the type of work they take on. What used to be general practices that dabbled in a range of legal issues have become honed and finely tuned law firms with a focus on specific practice areas. Take Allan Oziel of Oziel Law in Toronto, who started his firm almost seven years ago. It focuses on business and technol- ogy and has grown to four lawyers. "In the past, a sole practitio- ner was general counsel," he says. "They didn't become known by a particular practice area." He identified "a clear need" among small and medium com- panies for a law firm that focused on providing business and technology advice at a "reasonable price," says Oziel. In fact, specialization seems to be the key to success. Sole practitioners and small firms can now be found specializing in everything from family law to business, real estate, securities, technology, intellectual property, litigation, trade, Indigenous and employment law. The options are endless. Manning says working on your own or in a small firm restores a level of independence. You have better control over the number of hours worked and billing rate, she notes, which allows lawyers to work with more closely held companies that don't want to pay big-firm rates. Oziel adds that the work gets more sophisticated as his busi- ness grows and clients expand. "The business evolves." Lawyers at smaller firms are also confident in their ability to compete for market share, even if it means taking on bigger firms. The key to success, says Oziel, is to know what type of firm you want to be, target the type of clients you want to serve and "never waiver. Be true to the idea." VIEW 2019 Canada's leading in-house counsel discuss their top priorities and challenges for 2019 TUNE IN canadianlawyermag.com/inhouse/videos Pr P esente t d by Untitled-4 1 2018-12-12 2:46 PM

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