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"THERE ARE SO MANY CHALLENGES IN THIS AREA OF PRACTICE, IT SPANS ALL PRACTICE AREAS. IT'S A HUGE LEARNING CURVE." — David Pamenter, Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP all practice areas. It's a huge learning curve." He says the formalized a clean- tech practice is still a work in progress. "This is an evolutionary process. I don't pretend we're the end of the road yet, by any means." While creating a separate practice group works for some firms, others are finding different ways to market and po- sition their clean-technology expertise. Borden Ladner Gervais LLP has placed its clean-tech practice under the auspic- es of the firm's Ottawa-based innovation focus group. "The focus group is sort of like a marketing entity," explains group leader Marc Babinski, an IP lawyer with years of experience working with ven- ture capitalists. "The firm supports it be- cause they see an opportunity." He says the firm has also recently introduced a climate-change focus group that is work- ing closely with his innovation section. MANY WAYS TO MARKET But regardless of whether a law firm with any type of business practice chooses to tag a name on its services that cater to cli- ents in the new clean-tech realm, its law- yers will inevitably be working on their files. "It's so pervasive that whether or not they've organized themselves, from a business-development perspective, into a branded group, lawyers are going to be working on this stuff," says Babinski. "Now it's kind of a race to see who can carve out a dominant market position in the various sectors. And you do that Stanley D. Berger and Dianne Saxe With contributions by: Paul Crowley, Charles Kazaz, Ramani Nadarajah, Kirk Lambrecht, Jessica Clogg, Meinhard Doelle, Dennis Mahony, Rangi Jeerakathil and Clayton Leonard Over the past year, our courts, tribunals and legislatures offered much to think about in the fast-moving areas of climate change, energy, aboriginal rights and water. In procedural terms, class actions and civil penalties continue to grow in importance, as does the rule of international law. This collection of insightful and timely articles, written by leading environmental law practitioners from across Canada, will keep you informed on how these new developments in the law will affect your practice and your clients now and in the future. Articles include: A Shift in the Legal Climate: The Emergence of Climate Change as a Dominant Legal Issue Across Canada by Meinhard Doelle and Dennis Mahony Environmental Law Developments in Nuclear Energy by Stanley D. Berger Inuit Defend Their Human Rights Against Climate Change by Paul Crowley Environmental Deregulation and the Crown's Constitutional Obligations to First Nations by Jessica Clogg Environmental Assessment and Aboriginal Consultation: One Sovereignty or Two Solitudes? by Kirk Lambrecht www.canadalawbook.ca 42 SEPTEMBER 2008 www. C ANADIAN Law ye rmag.comBERGER_Environmental Law-The Year in Review(CL 1-2h).indd 1 Watered Down: Issues Surrounding Water Use, Legislation and Policy in Southern Alberta by Rangi Jeerakathil and Clayton Leonard Environmental Penalties: New Enforcement Tool or the Demise of Environmental Prosecutions? by Ramani Nadarajah Class Action Update by Dianne Saxe The Precautionary Principle: Six Years after Spraytech, What Does It Mean? by Charles Kazaz by hiring new people, drawing on your strengths, being institutionally nimble enough to get your people reset." Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP, for in- stance, has not officially set up a clean- tech group, but it is getting plenty of clients from within the sector. "Certainly there's no question that larger, transac- tional-based firms are probably having a slower year than usual, but this is one sector, the clean-tech sector, that shows no signs of slowing down at all," says Co- lin Ground, a partner in the firm's busi- ness law group. The firm's recent clients include a venture capital fund, biofuels developer, and a wind-power provider. Ground says the emerging clean-tech sector often requires an unconventional approach simply to acquire a thorough understanding of a client's business. "When people come to you talking about transforming algae into a biofuel that will run engines of cars or heat homes, you need to sit down and learn that busi- ness, to a certain extent, so that when you're negotiating with an investor about certain intellectual property claims or representations and warranties that are 7/30/08 9:33:31 AM