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REGIONAL WRAP-UP our of two of its senior partners, brothers Robert and Donald McKercher. "The view has been for awhile that we want to move towards an institutional branding process so it's not dependent on any particular individual. We're a large institutional law firm with a provincial pres- ence," he says. ne of Saskatchewan's oldest law firms has changed its name because it wanted to — and because it had to. McKercher McKercher & Whitmore has rebranded itself as McKercher LLP after longtime partner Peter Whitmore was appointed to the province's Court of Queen's Bench. Law Society of Saskatchewan rules stipulate that no firm can have the name of a sitting member of the Court of Queen's Bench, Court of Appeal, or Superior Courts above its door or on its stationery. John Beckman, McKercher's chair- man, says other partners were deserv- ing of having their name added to the firm's name but the ultimate decision was made to streamline the corporate moniker as much as possible in hon- Donald McKercher says the name change simply reflects a grow- ing trend in the industry. "Gowlings used to have a name a mile long [Gowl- ing Lafleur Henderson LLP] and now it's Gowl- ings," he says. "It's the continual evolution of a name. Once you institu- tionalize it, you don't give a damn if somebody goes to the bench or not. The name continues." He says the firm has a significant num- connection dating back to the merger that brought him and the McKerchers together 19 years ago. Beckman says while business cards, Peter Whitmore gone to the bench. advertising, and its web site all need to be updated to reflect the change, the bigger issue is ensuring all of its cli- ents across the province know its ser- vice levels will remain the same regardless of what the receptionist says when an- swering the phone. "We're going to advertise in the pa- pers and expose the name so everybody knows the same things are happening here as they always did," he says. "We're proud of Pe- ter being appointed to the Court of Queen's Bench. We've had other of our partners appointed there and we expect to carry on in the same sort of tradition." McKercher, which has roots dating ber of lawyers whose careers would merit recognition in the corporate name but paying homage to all those deserving would be impossible. Whitmore has been the firm's Regina back to 1926, has a total of 50 lawyers, 40 of which work in Saskatoon while 10 work in Regina. — GEOFF KIRBYSON gmkirbyson@shaw.ca "At one time, everybody in the firm practised law on a full- L ooking to capitalize on what it sees as an evolution in le- gal leadership and recognizing that law firms are businesses like any other, Thompson Dorfman Sweat- man LLP has hired its first chief executive officer. Donald Douglas, a veteran of more than 30 years at the Winnipeg-based firm, has stepped into the dual role of CEO and managing partner, with the knowledge that a considerable amount of his time will be spent steering the TDS ship. He says he still intends to put his lawyer creden- tials to use but he's going to restrict his practice to high-level involvement with clients. For example, he might assist a client in negotiating an agree- ment but he'll leave the subsequent detail work to other lawyers in the firm. 10 M AY 2008 www. C ANADIAN mag.com time basis and those who were interested in management is- sues fit them in on the side," he says. "Lawyers [traditionally] built their practices as individuals, but it's more of a team effort you're putting forward now. As such, the firm needs somebody who can be its external spokesper- son. I see the role of CEO being more externally focused; the traditional managing partner was internally focused." One of those external duties includes leading Donald Douglas is the new CEO. the firm's growth. Douglas says he'd like to see the firm expand from its current base of about 70 lawyers to around 85 over the next three to five years. Anything beyond that would be counter- productive, he says. "One of the problems you get into in Manitoba when you get past 85 lawyers is the size of the community is such that you get senior lawyers in your litigation group bumping