Canadian Lawyer

w w w . C A N A D I A N L a w y e r m a g . c o m O c t O b e r 2 0 1 4 11 RegionAl wRAp-up CAlGAry lAW fIrmS ADApTING TO A ChANGING ENErGy SECTOr T here has been a lot of negative news out of Canada's energy sec- tor recently. Key pipeline projects have stalled and their future is increas- ingly uncertain, shipping oil by rail has come under intense scrutiny since the Lac-Mégantic disaster, there have been pipeline spills, turbulent natural gas prices, and caution around energy sector mergers and acquisitions. Investors, espe- cially Chinese investors, are getting wary. What effect is this having on the Calgary offices of the big law firms? "I'm not say- ing everything is a bed of roses, but it's not all gloom and doom," says Norton Rose Fulbright Calgary partner Craig Hoskins. Until about two years ago, mergers and acquisitions were the sweet spot for a lot of law firms servicing the energy sector in Alberta. Hoskins specializes in corporate finance and transactional areas and says there has not been a slowdown in legal business as much as a shift in emphasis. He believes any slowdowns in energy-related M&A "have been supplanted" by growth in other areas. "We don't expect that to be permanent, it's just part of a normal cycle." He acknowledges "things have become more complicated. . . . Public M&A has become more diverse, we are seeing more joint ventures. I don't see it as a chill, they [public M&As] are being replaced with other types of transactions." Has that resulted in any shakeups or layoffs at Norton Rose Fulbright? Hoskins says no, "it's just who is feeding who that has changed." It is generally accepted that ener- gy sector M&A business across the board touched bottom in 2012 and is now recov- ering. The mood is definitely up over at Blake Cassels & Graydon LLP. "Things have been exceptionally busy for us," says chair- man Brock Gibson from his Calgary office, "and our clients are as busy as they have ever been." In fact, says Gibson, at Blakes "2014 is busier than 2013." Of course, a lot of law firms can say the same, partly because 2013 was not a very good year. Gibson also acknowledges some change in emphasis. "There are different parts of the energy business," he says, "there's inbound M&A, there's strategic M&A, not just public M&A." In fact, he says he has just hired some new lawyers — not in Calgary — to handle energy projects. Last year, Stikeman Elliott Calgary partner, Glenn Cameron whose practice includes a lot of M&A work, helped prepare a forecast on energy sector M&A for 2014. It generally foresaw growth and Cameron says that has proved to be the case for most of this year. There was a dip over the sum- mer but the market seems to be heading for a strong final quarter. Cameron thinks there will be a continuing upward trend for law firms involved in the energy sector. He has been particularly encouraged by offshore interest from places other than China and as Cameron points out "law firms thrive on the number of deals rather than the size." Cameron, while retaining his lawyerly caution, is optimistic "there are headwinds," he says, "there are clouds in the sky but people are seeing opportunities." — Geoff eLLWAND writerlaw@gmail.com West AlbERTA slAPs DowN ANTI-slAPP lEgIslATIoN T he issue of whether Alberta should control sLAPPs (strategic lawsuits against public par- ticipation) is back in the public eye. A sLAPP is a lawsuit launched by deep-pocketed inter- ests designed to intimidate less well-funded critics through enormous claims for damages. What got the sLAPP debate roiling again was a $6-million defamation action launched nearly a year ago by Calgary developer Cal Wenzel. Wenzel has been engaged in a long-running battle with Calgary City Hall. He is enraged at the way the city is limiting the development of suburban housing developments. the city says it is just trying to control sprawl, Wenzel says he just wants to build affordable homes for families. the developer claimed he had been defamed and his business interests damaged in an interview during last November's municipal election. In that interview with CBC Radio, the city's mayor ques- tioned the propriety of some campaign spending by Wenzel's company and then linked the developer to a scene from the movie the Godfather. Mayor Naheed Nenshi called the allegations "spurious" and before filing a vigorous defence and denial told the media: "I believe this to be, in my opinion, an example of a sLAPP . . . the whole point of it is to distract your subject, to scare other people from speaking their minds, and to cause financial harm to the subject of the lawsuit through payment of legal fees." Anti-sLAPP legislation has gained significant traction in the u.s. but Canadian provinces have been wary of such laws. British Columbia's NDP government passed anti-sLAPP legislation in 2001 but it was repealed a few months later when the Liberals came to power. Quebec has had anti-sLAPP mea- sures since 2009 and ontario has been actively examining sLAPP legislation since 2010. Critics fear anti-sLAPP laws will become a licence to defame, supporters see them as a bulwark against corporate bullying of underfunded opposition. John Carpay, who heads the Calgary-based, privately-funded, right-wing Justice Centre for Constitutional freedoms thinks anti-sLAPP laws are "worth studying" and "the lens through which we should view this is whether it helps or hinders free speech." But Alberta's Justice Minister Jonathan Denis has his mind made up. He says the province "is not considering . . . sLAPP legislation at this time." so was Wenzel playing legal chicken when he hit Nenshi with a $6-million defamation suit? there has been no apology from Nenshi just his brisk defence, and no indication of Wenzel advancing his action against the mayor. —Ge

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