Canadian Lawyer

Shifting sands Constantly changing rules, laws, and regulations are keeping lawyers busy at Canadian Lawyer's top labour and employment and intellectual property boutiques. By Charlotte Santry A slew of government pronouncements on everything from strike laws to arbitration rules are helping to keep Canada's labour and employment boutiques busy. "Every time governments make changes, that creates work for labour and employment lawyers," says Kuretzky Vassos Henderson LLP senior partner Barry Kuretzky. Labour-side boutiques see the attention being paid by politicians to their clients as a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, professional associations and trade unions are launching legal challenges against policies seen as threatening their members' interests. This creates opportunities for labour and employment boutiques, especially those able to take on a slightly broader range of cases, particularly constitutional law issues. Cavalluzzo Shilton McIntyre Cornish LLP, for example, has worked on denominational rights issues for the Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association. The firm sees its wider interest in public law — several lawyers have served on major public inquiries — as an essential part of its offering to clients. Edmontonbased Neuman Thompson, which acts for employers, is also noting an uptake in constitutional work often related to public sector restructuring, says lawyer Craig Neuman, whose firm is seeing more collective bargaining work these days. But there are also concerns political reforms could weaken a client base already hurting under the pressures brought by globalization and increasing privatization. Cavalluzzo senior partner Paul Cavalluzzo highlights "the problems trade unions are having in terms of maintaining the density of their membership" as one of the main challenges facing union-side boutiques. Kuretzky, whose firm acts for public- and private-sector employers, agrees working in a constantly evolving arena presents challenges for a specialist boutique. "Every boutique has to keep abreast of the law and ahead of the law — we're interested in not only what's currently going on but where things are going," he says. The changing economic climate is also keeping labour and employment boutiques on their toes. A few years ago, much of the work revolved around lay offs due to the economic downturn. This is markedly different to the type of business now being chased. "Companies acquiring other companies, mergers and acquisitions — these are the issues we're seeing now," says Stephen Shamie, Hicks Morley Hamilton Stewart Storie LLP's managing partner, who also points to litigation as an expanding area. Companies are also becoming increasingly aware of the longer-term financial challenges of growing workforces, and boutiques' pensions teams are benefiting from the growing fear defined-benefit plans may be unsustainable. "There's really no downturn for us," argues Shamie. However, there is no doubt labour and employment boutiques operate in a competitive field containing many strong and well-established players. Filion Wakely Thorup Angeletti LLP's managing partner Paul Young says the need to stand out in a crowded market is one of the reasons his firm belongs to www.CANADIAN L a w ye r m a g . c o m Jan uary 2014 33

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