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Kitchener city hall Speed River in Guelph Hamilton skyline Making Law firms across southwestern Ontario range from national outfits to local boutiques serving a diverse range of clients and industries. BY JUDY VAN RHIJN Uptown Waterloo west, they look towards a re- gion that gets its strength from diversifi cation, both within and between its cities. Wheth- er riding out the depression of the 1930s or the current eco- nomic downturn, many of the W cities of southwestern Ontario hold their own be- cause they are not dependent on one industry, a fact not lost on local law fi rms. A rash of mergers and moves in the last decade has now settled down and fi rms are well-positioned to service the remarkable growth which is still continuing. The bottom corner of Ontario may be lake-locked in geography but it is stereotype-free in its culture and economy. While the physical landscape is dom- inated by the Niagara Escarpment, stretching like a long backbone from Tobermory in the northwest to Niagara Falls in the southeast, the legal land- scape is dominated by local offi ces of national law fi rms that have recently moved in. Generally, they have merged with an established local fi rm to ob- tain a base, and then fostered further expansion by acquiring practice groups from other fi rms, moving 32 FEBRU AR Y 2009 www. C ANADIAN Law ye rmag.com hen the binoculars on the CN Tower in To- ronto turn south and lawyers down from Toronto and harvesting gradu- ates from law schools in London and Windsor. Gowling Lafl eur Henderson LLP, Miller Thomson LLP, and Borden Ladner Gervais LLP are national fi rms with local offi ces. Lerners, Siskinds, Ross & McBride, Filion Wakely Thorup Angeletti LLP, Hicks Morley, and Bereskin & Parr have Toronto offi ces and a southwestern Ontario presence. They compete, and sometimes partner with a swathe of local mid-sized fi rms, usually in the 10- to 30-law- yer range, although Harrison Pensa in London has amassed a professional staff of over 50 lawyers. In addition there are boutiques and small and sole practitioners in abundance in every major centre. The fi rst large centre you encounter as you move west from Toronto is Guelph, an attractive tree- lined city dominated by a large cathedral and one of the best universities in Canada. Smith Valeriote Law Firm LLP, the largest locally owned fi rm in Guelph, was formed in 1999 through a merger of two local fi rms. Partners Diana Piccoli and Mark Rodenburg point out that Guelph has such a diverse cultural and economic base that it has often been used as a test city for government initiatives. "As well as its strength in [the] agricultural industry, Guelph has a lot of builder/developer work," says Piccoli. "There is a huge manufacturing base as well as agricultural