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w w w . C A N A D I A N L a w y e r m a g . c o m M A r C h 2 0 1 5 33 O n a brisk winter morning, with the temperature a mere -20 C and rising, senior litigator Dave Hill had his day and evening mapped out, including a way to beat the elements. A er a full day of work, he planned to use the enclosed downtown Skywalk, to walk from his offi ce on Main Street to the nearby MTS Centre to watch the Winnipeg Jets play that night. "I wish we had more tickets," says Hill, as the arena for the NHL hockey team is routinely sold out. So too, appear to be the demands on his legal time. " e past two weeks have been the busiest in the past 40 years," says the co- founder of Hill Sokalski Walsh Olson LLP, one of the oldest liti- gation boutiques in the country. "I am very bullish," Hill replies when asked about the state of the legal profession in Winnipeg. "We are looking to expand to other areas." At a time when there is increased uncertainty in other parts of the country, especially where fortunes are more dependent on the state of the oil and gas sector, Hill's enthusiasm and optimistic outlook, is shared by senior lawyers at other fi rms throughout the city. " e opportunities are pretty good here," echoes Allan Fineblit, former CEO of the Law Society of Manitoba who re- cently joined ompson Dorfman Sweatman LLP. "It tends to be steady, slow growth." If there is a common theme as to how the profession sees the business of law in Winnipeg, it is while there may not be the sud- den booms, as in other regions, neither are there the bust peri- ods. e provincial economy is doing well, with a Conference Board of Canada report released in January predicting the Mani- toba economy will have three-per-cent growth this year, leading the country. In contrast, Alberta could face a recession. "When you are not a 'boom' province, you don't get the lows either," says Benjamin Hecht, managing partner at Pitblado LLP. In addition to benefi ting from a healthy economy, the legal com- munity in Winnipeg is characterized by a number of fi rms with Winnipeg city report At a time when there is increased uncertainty in other parts of the country, the outlook for the legal business in Manitoba's capital is 'pretty good.' By Shannon Kari Winnipeg: Winnipeg: holding steady