Canadian Lawyer

6 O c t O b e r 2 0 1 4 w w w . C A N A D I A N L a w y e r m a g . c o m RegionAl wRAp-up atlantIC Trials & Tribulations Margaret Waddell ruminates on issues of import and interest to litigators. October 13 Make it Count Pro tips on business development and legal marketing from the CMo at field Law in Alberta, Simone Hughes. October 13 e Twila Zone Twila Reid shares her views on life and practice from her vantage point in st. John's. October 20 e Future Files toronto lawyer and legal tech evangelist Ben Hanuka brings you the latest tech news for your practices. October 13 Letter from Law Law Land Wit and wisdom from Vancouver's Tony Wilson. October 27 Making Rain executive coach Debra Forman's video column on career and business development. October 27 e IT Girl Lisa Lifshitz's column looks at the intersection of law and technology. October 20 David Paul's Field Notes tips for the solo and small fi rm from B.C.'s David Paul. October 20 webTV TV webTV Get information on the latest legal trends, practice management, careers, insights into practice areas, and more. . . this month eXcluSivelY on m a g . c o m Defi nitely Mabey Stephen Mabey examines the thorny issues facing law fi rm management. October 27 Class Acts Kirk Baert's column takes a critical look at class action litigation across the country. October 27 ThE lUrE Of ThE EAST A merican author Horace Greeley may have urged young men in America to go west, but law firms in Canada, both established and up-and-coming, are heading in the opposite direction. In the last few months, Torys LLP has opened what is believed to be the country's first in-house LPO in Halifax, and Cognition LLP has put down roots in Atlantic Canada from a home base in Florenceville-Bristol, N.B. The easterly attraction for Torys is having access to first-rate lawyers within the firm without having to pay the much higher salaries demanded in major centres. "Halifax had the right combination of things we were looking for — legal talent, [a] top-rated law school, and it is perceived very well by clients," says Chris Fowles, office leader of Torys' new Legal Services Centre in Halifax. Affordable legal services are now a mantra intoned by most clients, but concerns about managing work done off- shore and nearshore convinced Torys to establish its own low-cost centre in-house. The Legal Services Centre will launch with one or two lawyers, with a plan to quadruple that number within four years. The new hires will be sea- soned lawyers whose role is to support lawyers in other Torys offices, primarily Toronto. "We're not looking for very junior or articling students," says Fowles. Torys antici- pates the office will eventually have 15 lawyers on staff. What the Legal Services Centre will not do is compete with firms already on the ground in Atlantic Canada. Cog- nition, on the other hand, will do precisely that. The niche is the same the firm has filled elsewhere in the country, says Cognition co-founder Joe Milstone. Small- to medium-size businesses with no internal legal function and larger com- panies with overly busy in-house legal departments are the target. The distinguishing feature is price. "[We] deliver a

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