Canadian Lawyer

Managing partners at other firms in the country took careful note of the pre-Dentons departures. "If I was at FMC I think I would be a little disappointed because it would certainly represent a dent in those practices at FMC," says Andrew Fleming, managing partner at the Toronto office of Norton Rose Canada. "It's not something that happens every day, but if you look over the past year, you can see certain circumstances where practices moved from one firm to the other because they felt the platform at the second firm was better for them. People want to be where they get the best work, so they move." Fleming is familiar with the impact a merger can have on a firm and its lawyers as a partner with Ogilvy Renault before it merged with Norton Rose in 2010. "We've done a few mergers in the last 10 or 20 years and there is always a tendency to have some fallout either because somebody's practice is going to get pushed aside or somebody is worried about conflicts — that's usually a biggie," he says. Valerie Mann, managing partner at western regional firm Lawson Lundell LLP, called it "a great step" for Bennett Jones. "It's a good coup for them because it's a big group of people who presumably will bring an active practice with them." Inevitably, departures at one firm trigger recruiting to fill the gaps and that means potentially raiding other camps. "It's quite a blow to that group and how they're going to survive that will be interesting because now they will have to do the same thing," says Stephen Shamie, managing partner of Ontario-based employment law firm Hicks Morley Hamilton Stewart Storie LLP. "I think you're going to see a lot more movement now than we ever have before in the legal community. I think everything is wide open and fair game." Shamie says he is aware other firms approach his partners all the time. He has also been on the other side of the fence — recently Hicks Morley welcomed five labour and employment lawyers from Heenan Blaikie LLP. In December, Hicks Morley announced three of Heenan's labour and employment stars — Henry Dinsdale, Jeffrey Goodman, and Michael Smyth — had joined their firm. Two associates soon followed — Jodi Gallagher Healy and Maureen Quinlan — who had worked with the partners at Heenan. Looking to make a move? I Do a self-valuation. f you're a lawyer looking for a new opportunity, recruiters advise associates and even partners to sharpen your business development skills and build up your book of business. "For associates the bar has definitely moved," says Karen Mackay, president of Phoenix Legal. "It is more complicated and difficult to become an equity partner than it has been in previous generations, no question." To become desirable, you are going to have to become more entrepreneurial. "If we tell anything to an associate it's to be aware of their own practice and distinguish themselves from the pack; be more reliant on themselves," says Carolyn Berger, a recruiter with Marsden International. Individuals who have a book of business to bring or a strong record in professional development are more appealing to suitors. "I think the moves we do see are still focused on those particular types of individuals," says John Ohnjec, division director of Robert Half Legal. For partners, the big demand right now is for those with a substantial and established base. In Toronto that means you're at a tier-one firm, 10 years out, with a minimum $1.2-million to $1.5-million practice. "A $600,000 practice is fine, but it's not going to get you a ticket to the dance at one of the big firms unless it's in an area like health law that the firm is trying to build out or some other strategic purpose," says Christopher Sweeney of ZSA Legal Recruitment. If your desire to move is purely about dollars, the question is, what do you bring to the table? "A lot of people are not there — it's not easy to build a $1.5-million practice. Some say, 'Well it's no problem building up a book of $1 million' but those people are just gifted at marketing and selling themselves, and most lawyers are not," says Sweeney. Those numbers primarily apply to the biggest firms, says Carrie Heller of The Heller Group. "If you are a junior partner at $600,000 and still building people will still be interested in you. Mid-size firms will be happy with a book of over $500,000," she says. Money may be the usual incentive to move, but Berger's advice is to be practical about what you're looking for. In some cases, money might not and should not be the first consideration — it might be about growing a practice in a way the current firm can't offer. In any case, the question from the hiring law firm to prospective partners will be: Do you have the business and how much? "They wouldn't be leaving unless they knew they had the business," says Lawrence Mullman of Major Lindsey & Africa. The best approach, he says, is to under promise and over deliver. "Don't say the best case, say the moderate case and then everyone loves you." And due diligence goes both ways, says Mullman. With last year's collapse of Dewey & Leboeuf LLP, it's becoming more common in the U.S. for lawyers to be the ones trying to do their due diligence on a firm's financial stability. "Ask, 'Is the firm going to be able to pay me down the road?' Most firms are financially sound but a lot aren't nearly as financially rich as they appear to be on the [profits per partner] Am Law reports," says Mullman. — JB www.CANADIAN L a w ye r m a g . c o m M ay 2013 29

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