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REGIONAL WRAP UP Bruce King, managing partner of Pitblado LLP, says competition from other jurisdictions for students isn't new and there has been a steady flow of young lawyers seeking greener pas- tures, in Calgary in particular, for some time. "The Winnipeg firms tend not to compete on the salary level and instead pay a salary that is competitive within the Winnipeg market, and then en- courage young people to make lifestyle choices while promoting the benefits of a Winnipeg-based practice," he says. The biggest firm in the province, however, appears to be immune to the problem. Michelle Redekopp, chair- woman of the student committee at Ai- kins MacAulay & Thorvaldson LLP, says it raised the salaries of its five incoming articling student by a "modest" amount compared to last year. She says the firm, which has 95 law- yers, is able to sweeten its employment offers by dangling the carrot of high- quality work. "What it really comes down to is, if you are interested in prac- tising in this province, Aikins is a great place to work. We offer lots of work, and that usually translates into a good long- term salary, and you get all the benefits of being in Winnipeg. Our size and our client base give us a little more luxury in this marketplace," she says. — GEOFF KIRBYSON gmkirbyson@shaw.ca C Dictation made easy ontinuing advancements in tech- nology will soon make typing out dictation a thing of the past, pre- dicts a partner at D'Arcy & Deacon LLP. Roger Gripp, a partner at the Winnipeg- based firm, says recently implemented digital technology has enabled its lawyers to send their dictation to their assistants via the internet. It's a big time saver that has eliminated the need to mail microcas- settes back to the office, he says, and has further enabled lawyers to work around the globe. "We used to be limited by hav- ing to deliver the tapes and courier them to be transcribed. Now your assistant can work on it no matter where in the world you are. You can keep your practice go- ing even though you're not right at your desk," he says. Gripp says voice recognition technology hasn't progressed as quickly as Roger Gripp says digital dictation makes life easier. some had thought but he's confident it's just a matter of time until it's a staple. "That could very well be the next frontier. Your dictations will go right into user format," he says. While technology has also made it much easier to communicate with cli- ents, the flipside is it's helped create sometimes unrealistic expectations for faster response times from lawyers, he says. "When somebody sends you an e-mail, they expect a response far quicker than somebody who sends you a letter or couriers you a document. People can become very demanding if you're not giving an instant response, but [they have to realize] you're not always looking at your computer screen." — GK An 'interesting and challenging case' I t naturally can take lots of time and manpower to win a landmark case. Just ask Olivier F. Kott, a senior partner at Ogilvy Renault LLP. He led a team of more than a dozen lawyers over almost two decades to eventually earn a $38.7-million victory before the Su- preme Court of Canada for corporate client Domtar Inc. It's certainly not what Kott was expect- ing that spring day in 1989 when he re- ceived a phone call from Domtar inform- ing him about serious problems with a $13.5-million recovery boiler, complete with a superheater, at its new pulp and paper mill in Windsor, Que. The equip- ment had been purchased from U.S. manufacturer Combustion Engineer- ing Inc., in December 1984. In March 1989, 18 months after the boiler was put into service, tests revealed some leaks and hundreds of cracks in the su- perheater's tubes. Kott was instructed in June of that year to initiate proceedings under the old provincial Civil Code, because a shutdown caused by the faulty boiler was costing Domtar $500,000 in lost profits every day. He says Quebec law presumes that manufacturers and other professional sellers know of any defect in the prod- CENTRAL CANADA ucts they sell and requires them to dis- close such defects to buyers — including both defects of which they were actually aware and those of which they are pre- sumed to know. "I thought it would be settled early, but there was no willingness on Combustion Engineering's part," Kott www. C ANADIAN Law ye rmag.com M ARCH 2008 9