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fewer cases to boutiques now than they did 10 years ago — significantly fewer," he says. "Because boutiques don't have referrals, and so boutiques sop up con- flicts, but they don't generally refer cases to other people, and they don't neces- sarily work easily with other firms." But not all large-firm lawyers are down on their boutique counterparts. One Bay Street lawyer envisions a fur- ther growth of litigation boutiques as conflict issues increasingly exempt the big firms. "Lawyers are more and more alert to conflict issues that arise, and need to refer, for example, individual parties who might be employees of their corporate client who need legal rep- resentation because of a different inter- est," says the lawyer. He suggests firms are reluctant to refer such work to other large firms for fear of losing future work from the corporate client. "Boutique firms have somewhat more flexibility than litiga- tion departments in big firms about the kinds of cases they can take, and certainly if they're good and have good experience, big firms have no hesitation in not only referring matters to them, but even hiring them for certain things from time to time," he says. On the IP side, in-house lawyers say they also appreciate the added flexibility that most boutique firms offer in mak- ing fee arrangements. But one Quebec corporate counsel says her company is reluctant to give certain work to boutiques. "Our patent portfolio is with one of the big Canadian national law firms that has a big presence in Montreal, just because the depth of the team will mean that should there be changes — you know, people come and go, partners come and leave — there's sufficient depth that we're not at the mercy of any one 'superstar,'" she says. "If that person leaves and they're the only one who knows your file, then you sort of are forced to follow them." While lawyers will continue to squabble over the utility of boutiques, many continue to attract some of the most interesting and challenging files in the country, and that's where the rubber ntitled-5 1 Your IP partners Whether arguing before the court or the patent and trademark offices, the partners and associates at Dimock Stratton bring experience, perspective, insight, and attention to detail to the job. Our approach has won the respect of peers and clients alike and generated the consistent results that have earned us the distinction of mip Canadian Patent Contentious Firm of the Year 2008 and 2009. When you need a top ip partner, contact the team at Dimock Stratton. Dimock Stratton partners from top left to right: Mark Eisen, Henry Lue, Jenna Wilson, Bruce Stratton, Ron Dimock, David Reive, Angela Furlanetto, Mike Crinson Dimock Stratton llp experience. results. 20 Queen W. 32nd fl, Toronto | 416.971.7202 | dimock.com www. C ANADIAN Law ye rmag.com M ARCH 2010 39 2/17/10 12:32:25 PM meets the road. Of course, certain firms stand above the crowd, so Canadian Lawyer has set out to determine the cream of the boutique crop. Our editorial team began the process of selecting Canada's top IP and litiga- tion boutiques by narrowing down a short list of the most notable firms. From there, we drew on the experience of in-house counsel and large-firm law- yers who refer work to these boutiques, conducting a series of confidential inter- views to find out what shops they think rise to the top. The results follow: an informal list in alphabetical order of the 10 boutique firms in each of these two categories that are most often called upon when the stakes are high.