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LEGAL REPORT: CLASS ACTIONS The power of collaboration Banding together allows smaller plaintiffs' firms to hold their own in class actions defended by the might of the big players. BY IAN HARVEY B igger may be better when it comes to defending class action suits in Canada, but don't for a minute think plaintiffs are betting on Da- vid alone to tackle Goliath. While the big-gun national partner- ships have steadily beefed up their class action departments to keep pace with the increasing trend of litigation in this arena, the boutique practices and gen- eral plaintiffs bar have also been busy forming consortiums and alliances to bring in the expertise they need to ad- vance their cause. Little wonder, considering the grow- ing legal muscle they're running up against: Borden Ladner Gervais LLP, for example, has some 10 lawyers dedi- cated to class actions — with another 25 who spend much of their time on such work — buttressed by the full array of expertise from practice areas such as tax, labour and employment, pharmaceuti- cals, medical, and business. By default, the large nationals are almost boxed into taking the defence position, since through those other departments they are more likely to already have a relationship with the large firms or institutions targeted by class actions. More than that, though, says Freya Kristjanson, who runs BLG's class action department, it also allows clients to get pre-emptive counsel on what might get them into a class action as they make those day-to-day business decisions about products, services, and marketing. "It's not just the expertise in class action, it's about working with a client before an action commences in the area of consumers, contracts, and marketing, and even the emerging area of labour and employment class actions overtime, which have created a huge chill," she says. Still, class actions are complex matters, not just in terms of the numbers of plain- tiffs and the process of certification, but in that they often cross jurisdictions, pro- vincially and internationally. Kristjanson www. C ANADIAN mag.com APRIL 2008 45 ILLUSTRATION: KATHRYN JANKOWSKI