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8 www.canadianlawyermag.com FEATURE CROSS EXAMINED [with] two or three guys above a statio- nery store, and there's a bunch of things in between," he quips. When the pandemic hit, Cox & Palmer created a COVID response committee composed of a small group that would be able to make decisions very rapidly. "Ten days after the pandemic became real, as we wound up operations in our office [and] our phones literally stopped ringing," he says. "Any lawyer who doesn't hear the phone ringing gets quite nervous. And, of course, I know now but didn't know then that our clients were doing the same things we were. They were just looking for their phones." Cooper says torts, medical malpractice, and commercial litigation have "remained constant over a meaningful period" during the pandemic. Transactional work has also been "very brisk," he says. "Part of that is driven by trends in the larger economy. Atlantic Canada has seen population and economic growth, the likes of which [had] not [been] typical" in previous periods. One of the areas that has not grown recently is insolvencies, but Cooper expects that to pick up soon. As pandemic emergency supports decrease, he expects the normal business cycle to return. So far, 2022 has been "very encouraging," but Cooper does stress that "there's obviously a huge question mark as to what the horrific events in Ukraine will bring for any of us. I want to be really plain about any expression of optimism in the sombre circumstance." In addition to his leadership role at the firm, Cooper maintains a full commercial liti- gation and transaction practice. He primarily represents creditors and institutional clients in disputes, transactions, and arbitrations regarding commercial financing, securi- ties and secured transactions, bankruptcy and insolvency, product liability, natural resources and energy, and insurance. He says the pandemic caused a major change in tech usage in his practice. "One of the big trends that extends to all forms of litigation was that, just before the pandemic, people were reluctant to adopt really basic technology like video conferencing – now everybody does it." The main challenge for Cooper as managing partner, he says, is recruitment. "To be useful to our clients, we have to have the best people, [and] we think we do. And we have to be able to retain and recruit people to replace those who do other things or those who move to the next phase of their careers or into retirement." Lawyers have many more opportunities "for careers in industry, in government, in the not-for-profit sector. We have made a "I had a regular series of calls with my counterparts in the other big firms in Atlantic Canada. We have known each other since law school, but we've really had a very supportive relationship" COX & PALMER ACROSS ATLANTIC CANADA Office Lawyers Fredericton 26 Moncton 21 Saint John 25 St. John's 34 Halifax 68 Alberton 1 Charlottetown 19 Montague 3 Summerside 5 Total lawyers: 202 significant investment in our efforts toward providing an equitable, diverse, and inclu- sive work environment, a respectful work- place, seeing our people trying to flatten out some of the hierarchy that is systemic in our profession. "We don't want our main competitor to be the great resignation." Cox & Palmer now has equity, diversity, and inclusion committees at the local level across the firm "because what inclusion feels like in one place may be different in another." Clients "don't need to have the lawyer who looks like every other lawyer, the lawyer who comes out [like] the cookie cutter, right out of central casting," says Cooper. " The profession itself is going through a welcome transformation, and we want to participate in that fully."