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Michener, the move was set in motion a year prior during a coffee-shop chat between Robert Cranston and Andrew Kent. Cranston, Lang Michener's eastern division managing partner, says his firm was eager to expand its Toronto pres- ence and get on the ground in Montreal, which a merger with McMillan would provide. Lang Michener already had a significant office in Vancouver (where McMillan was absent) and a lawyer in Hong Kong, and viewed McMillan's 20-lawyer presence in Calgary as a means of bolstering its ability to attract work from the Asian market. "There was, at a high level, some real poten- tial there, and that's really what got us thinking about talking to Andy and his firm," says Cranston. At the same time, the firm knew it needed to bulk up. "The whole issue of scale is important. You have so much more opportunity, whether it be from a hiring perspec- tive or growth, if you have more scale. LLP was the bookend on the flurry of deals annouced in late 2010. The alli- ance made Miller Thomson the first national firm to gain a foothold in the prairie province that has become a key source of the world's potash, uranium, and oil, and was projected to have led Canada in growth last year at a rate of 6.3 per cent. The firm's chairman, Gerald Courage, says after a process of due diligence, it became clear that Balfour Moss was the shop it felt best suited to link up with to take advan- tage of the province's boom. The pair shared several key clients, and with roots dating back to the 19th century, Balfour Moss was as well-established in the Saskatchewan market as any other regional, full-service firm in the mar- ket. "It's a province that's really on the upswing," says Courage. "There are real opportunities, and we're happy that, as a national firm, we're the first mover in the province." "There are some firms [that] get it immediately; there are some who see a potential threat; there are others who don't see it at all." PETER MARTyR, NORTON ROSE GROUP And to the extent that you're looking to do certain kinds of M&A transactions, clients also like to think that you have the scale to handle large transactions as and when they come." The average size of North American law firms has grown steadily over the past decade. By getting together to cre- ate a 400-lawyer presence, McMillan's CEO Kent says the combined firms, which will operate under the McMillan name, will now be able to compete for work neither would have qualified for in the past. "If you want to compete at a certain level, it's really difficult to develop the specialized expertise, depth of resources, the organizational com- petencies, if you don't achieve a certain critical mass," he says. Miller Thomson's Dec. 7 merger with Saskatchewan's 24-lawyer Balfour Moss "Joining ranks with a national law firm will allow us to pursue growth opportunities in the Saskatchewan mar- ket that are currently out of our reach," said Balfour Moss' Brian Scherman the day of the annoucement. "We took our time to consider potential part- ners. Miller Thomson appealed to us because of their open, approach- able, no-nonsense approach to practising law." The Balfour Moss deal is the latest in a string of moves over the last five years by Miller Thomson that has seen it double in size to approximately 480 lawyers. While that rate of growth may lead you to believe the firm is ready 30 FEBRUA R Y 2011 www. CANADIAN Lawyermag.com for a breather, Courage suggests other- wise. While light on specifics, it's appar- ent more growth is high on Courage's list of priorities. Internal growth at exist- ing offices is planned, and the firm will look at its "strategic interests" to seek out strong merger partners to branch out to new jurisdictions. Meanwhile, the firm's international presence is served though membership in a global law-firm alliance and through a number of "best friends" relationships with U.S. firms, which he says are as strong as ever. The most recent law firm marriage happened at the beginning of January, when mid-sized Bay Street shop Aylesworth LLP annouced it was being folded into the Toronto affiliate of Michigan-based Dickinson Wright PLLC.