Canadian Lawyer InHouse

october 2014 32 INHOUSE NOT TOO BIG. NOT TOO SMALL. ;IEVIEJYPPWIVZMGIFYWMRIWWPE[½VQXLEXGSQFMRIW &E]7XVIIXI\TIVMIRGI[MXLPIEHIVWLMTXIEQ[SVOERHZEPYI 8LEROWXSSYVGPMIRXWSYVVIJIVVEPWSYVGIWERHSYVTISTPI [ILEZIKVS[RMRXSE½VQXLEXETTVIGMEXIW]SYVYRMUYIGLEPPIRKIW LEWEVMKLXWM^IHETTVSEGLXSWIVZMGIERHGERFYMPHEXIEQXLEX´W© JUST RIGHT -JXLMWWSYRHWPMOIXLIVMKLX½XJSV]SY ]SY´ZIHMWGSZIVIH6MKLXWM^IH8LMROMRK TM . &YWMRIWW0E['SQQIVGMEP0MXMKEXMSR'SQQIVGMEP6IEP)WXEXI 'SRWXVYGXMSR -RWSPZIRG] 'SVTSVEXI 6IWXVYGXYVMRK )QTPS]QIRX 0EFSYV ;MPPW )WXEXIW 8VYWXW ntitled-5 1 14-08-26 3:04 PM lawyers from a large law fi rm and is interested in exploring alternative fee ar- rangements with outside law fi rms. "I'm very interested in it — I usually negotiate a dis- count from their usual rates and for the bigger projects we always do a competitive pro- cess. . . . When I retain legal I do not have to do it competitively but choose to do it for the larger transactions because I think it gets us a better deal." Martin has some concerns about the escalating cost of outside legal counsel. "I used to be on Bay Street and I can't under- stand what is happening because the rates have far outstripped infl ation in a time when there has been some economic down- turn," she says. "I'm kind of impatient with the rates — they seem too high." She plans to look at alternative service providers such as Cognition LLP in the future. "I think what they allow you to do is when you have a surplus of good work in the department and we want to focus on our larger projects, they allow you to use an outside organization with lower hourly rates. I'm going to be looking hard at that in the coming months and years. The people working for them are high calibre," she says. Steven Trumper's team at Build Toronto is considerably smaller than either Martin's or Dicker's — he and another part-time law- yer, along with help from private practice fi rms, support the transaction teams at the organization. "We work primarily in the real estate sector in the City of Toronto," says Trumper, general counsel of Build To- ronto. "Our business remains fairly strong because real estate in the GTA remains strong. We're seeing a lot of interest in our projects, particularly in growing areas of the downtown core, west of University/Spadina and the King/Richmond area." Build Toronto is owned by the City of Toronto and projects are typically mixed- use projects that provide citizens not only a place to live but also work. "We strive to build a special kind of place that enhances the fabric of the city, whether that be a mar- ket, an enhanced park, or affordable hous- ing. We try and incorporate those things in all of our projects," he says. The city transfers surplus land — what it no longer needs for program delivery — to Build Toronto. "We take that land and rather than dumping it on the market and selling it as is, we try and create a vision for the prop- erty. A lot of the properties may have envi- ronmental contamination or other issues and we try and solve those problems and create a vision which we then partner with the private sector to implement," says Trumper. For example, a project currently under construction at 10 York Street is a 64-sto- rey condo that is a joint venture with Tridel Corp. The location is a former police im- pound lot right beside the Gardiner Ex- pressway in downtown Toronto. Another project further west in Liberty Village is a former fi re truck repair station and it too is a joint venture for a new residential community that will include a park. A new bridge will go over the railway tracks and create a pedestrian link to Fort York. "There are always lots of challenges — the biggest issue we have is a lot of our projects require multi-stakeholder input so everybody has various perspectives and they are not all in accordance with what we

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