Canadian Lawyer

$275,000 is not seen as a terribly attractive recruit because they can't typically bring business with them, he notes. "The options for someone like that are to go in-house but that too is a competitive market. More people want to go in-house than there are positions." Harsher critics say the defection of FMC's mining group to Bennett Jones is symptomatic of a much bigger problem. "It's just more shuffling of the deck chairs on the Titanic," says Joe Milstone of Cognition LLP, a firm that provides lawyers to other firms and companies on an as-needed basis. "I think a lot of the mergers and big corporate changes in firms are window dressing to cover the inherent problems in the structures themselves." Milstone compares the chatter that followed the departure of the lawyers at FMC to those who read People magazine and gossip about who is doing what. "It's a big yawn — what's the news here?" He SPECIALIZATION IN BUSINESS LAW Classes Starting in September 2013 Part-time, Executive LLM program for corporate counsel and practising lawyers Information Sessions Thursday, February 7th, 12:00 to 2:00pm Tuesday, May 14, 12:00 to 2:00pm Thursday, March 7th, 5:30 2:00pm Thursday, May 23, 12:00 to 7:00pm U of T Faculty of Law, Faculty Lounge 78 Queen's Park, Toronto No registration required. Please feel free to drop in anytime during these hours. Taught by U of T Faculty of Law professors, together with top international faculty from MIT-Sloan School of Management and expert practitioners. flips the equation and questions what value comes out of these kinds of moves for the clients. "Are they charging any less or delivering a service in any better way? If I'm a client and someone is at FMC one day and Bennett Jones the next, how does it impact me as opposed to cutting a better deal?" Milstone says he regularly gets calls from law firm partners looking for a way out. "We get senior partners who have run departments and feel they are being marginalized in this much tougher 'what have you done for me lately' society in the firms. I feel for a lot of these people — it's often not a happy story and they feel they have put a lot of years and time in and had promises made but feel like yesterday's news." Feeling valued is a big issue these days says Carrie Heller. "Generally, when we place partners, it is really about being valued, which is at the top of the list and yes, money comes into play, but valuing the practice area is high on the list." Big lateral moves like those at FMC/ Dentons and from Heenan to Hicks Morley expose the fragility of the partnership model, says Kowalski. "Partners are only loyal to themselves; they're not loyal to the firm." That, he says, makes it difficult for a firm to instigate any real long-term strategy. "I think to a certain extent the law firm partnership model is nearing the end of its natural life cycle. When you see large groups splitting off simply because they're getting paid more perhaps or they have governance issues with the firm, that's not a stable structure and that ripples through your firm where others say, 'Well, they're leaving maybe we should be too.'" The client factor T TIME: EVENT: For more information, call 416-978-1400 or visit: http://www.law.utoronto.ca/programs/GPLLM.html Supported by the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) - Ontario Chapter and in partnership with Carswell, a Thomson Reuters business. 32 M ay 2013 PLLM_CL_May_13.indd 1 www.CANADIAN L a w ye r m a g . c o m here is also the client to consider in the aftermath of lateral moves. The choice of law firm is of course the client's, not the lawyer's, to make and it's always a bit of a gamble for the firm taking on the new partner with a promising book of business. Nothing is ever guaranteed, says Shamie, it always comes down to the client's choice. "Hopefully partners are confident their clients will come over but you never know until you have them come in as clients of the firm," he says. 13-04-11 1:17 PM

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