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Calgary's largest fi rms Bennett Jones LLP Macleod Dixon LLP Burnet Duckworth & Palmer LLP Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP Blake Cassels & Graydon LLP Gowling Lafl eur Henderson LLP Borden Ladner Gervais LLP McCarthy Tétrault LLP Osler Hoskin & Harcourt LLP (numbers refl ect Calgary lawyers only as of January 2008) 166 164 131 129 105 104 99 85 60 Stikeman Elliott LLP Miller Thomson LLP Field LLP Parlee McLaws LLP Heenan Blaikie LLP Davis LLP Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP McLennan Ross LLP Brownlee LLP "Our biggest problem with our associates is that we get top people — they're young, they're aggressive, they're entrepre- neurial — and our clients are hiring them away," says Greg Turnbull, managing partner of the Calgary offi ce of McCa- rthy Tétrault LLP. "It's a win-win situation because it's great to have our associates join our clients in-house, but we hate to lose them. We article them, we hire them, we train them, and then boom, our clients then take the benefi t. If you've got good people, they're getting approached all the time." "It's really a city that provides great opportunities to people starting out in their careers, because it really does reward and encourage people based on what they bring to the table." BLAKE CASSELS & GRAYDON LLP John Cordeau, managing partner at Bennett Jones LLP, says recruiting talent for the fi rm has never been an issue. "You can always use more good people but we were lucky; for the last six years we've been among the best employers in Canada [in a ranking of the ''50 Best Employers in Canada'' by consulting fi rm Hewitt Associates and Report on Business magazine.] "We have some people who have left for clients of ours, so it's prob- ably enhanced us. There's a raft of Bennett Jones lawyers who have gone with clients, and one of our core values is that we are a place to graduate from." A recent Conference Board of Canada study ranked Calgary as the best Canadian city to live in. While the study was based primarily on economic health, it also noted that the city ranks high in education, near the top in health care, middle of the pack in environment, and surprisingly high in housing-afford- ability. So what is like to work in Calgary, a city where the work, social, and charitable lines are blurred? "Calgary is more easygoing from a practice point of view. — KEN MILLS, 48 41 36 33 28 25 21 18 11 People have done 50 deals together, so they know each other very well; they know what the other side expects," says Camp- bell. "On the commercial side, it's not so adversarial where law- yers fi ght over every comma until they bleed to death." "To use a play on words, it's a very energetic town," says Mills. "There's a real sense that if you're interested and enthusiastic and bring a skill set, there are few limits to what you can accom- plish. It's very much a meritocracy, as opposed to a situation where there's some form of 'who you know.' It's really a city that provides great opportunities to people starting out in their ca- reers, because it really does reward and encourage people based on what they bring to the table." When it comes to legal technology, don't choose the road less travelled. Industry leader in legal software for real estate, corporate and estates for over a decade The choice of 2500 law firms, The Conveyancer generates required documents (including lender forms), tracks undertakings, exchanges data with Teraview® (ON) and SPIN (AB) and integrates with four title insurers. Comprehensive corporate records software tracks changes and generates prescribed forms, registers, ledgers, share certificates, resolutions, minutes, correspondence, etc. Integrated e-filing and extracts. The Estate Administration module automates Rule 74/75 forms plus scores of letters and documents. The Estate Accounting module simplifies recording of financial transactions, and generates reports in "passing of accounts" format. Tel: 416.322.6111 Toll-free: 1.866.367.7648 www.doprocess.com www. C ANADIAN Law ye rmag.com FEBRU AR Y 2008 39