Legal news and trends for Canadian in-house counsel and c-suite executives
Issue link: https://digital.canadianlawyermag.com/i/1181006
www.canadianlawyermag.com/inhouse 29 HOW WE DID IT Last year, Canadian Lawyer asked lawyers, in-house counsel and clients from across Canada to vote on the top corporate and immigration law boutiques. They were asked to rank their top firms from a preliminary list, with a chance to nominate a firm that was not included. To be considered in the vote, firms were required to have at least 80 per cent of their business come from corporate and immigration law. The final rankings were determined through a points system, in which firms were rewarded on a sliding scale for the number of first to 10th-place votes received. new entrant," says Cindy Petlock, chief legal officer at NEO. "Attitude as well. Boutiques take the time to deal with you as people and they explain everything so well and provide information in a consumable way. At large firms, you take your chances." Mid-tier gold producer Gran Colombia Gold Corp makes use of large law firms for issues such as litigation, but boutiques are favoured for niche areas and day-to-day legal issues such as continuous disclosure and sharehold- er meetings. "With large firms, you don't have a one-on-one relationship," says Amanda Fullerton, vice president, legal and assistant secretary at the gold producer, operated by a staff of six in Toronto. "With a boutique, I find that they really know what's important to the client." product and very efficient timelines but at a much more reasonable rate than you would get from a big firm. That's why we continue to use Wildeboer over and over." In addition to providing legal services, the boutique helps F&M with business transac- tions; for example, facilitating an introduction to a company in Colombia that is looking to go public. Wildeboer is now working on a transaction to amalgamate the company with a publicly listed shell, owned by F&M. Also valuing the services of Wildeboer, Toronto-based stock exchange NEO Exchange initially hired the boutique firm to assist with onboarding during its busy launch period in 2015 and continues to use its services for regular legal analysis. "Cost is a big consideration when you're a