Canadian Lawyer

w w w . C A N A D I A N L a w y e r m a g . c o m J U L Y 2 0 1 5 33 list of clients include the First Nations Bank of Canada, Canpotex Ltd., Pacific & Western Credit Corp., Claude Resources Inc., AREVA Resources Canada Inc., and Cameco Corp. "It's bound to have had an impact, there's certainly a higher level kind of activity with those two and there's lots of other companies that have come into the province not with any inten- tions at this time I don't think to be producing but there's still companies out there exploring for resources," says Anderson. "That's on top of the existing producers, the three existing [potash] producers going through significant expansion here in the province. That's driven the economy in many areas, in our profession, certainly engineers and construction." All of the new and existing business has helped MLT grow to about 150 lawyers and staff in offices across Western Canada includ- ing Regina, Saskatoon, Calgary, Edmonton, and a recently opened office in Vancouver. And the economic future continues to look bright with the emerging science and technology industry and Saskatch- ewan's agricultural industry. All of this growth compounded with Alberta's recent economic slowdown due to lower oil prices has slowed Saskatchewan's brain drain to its western neighbour down to a trickle. "To some degree it's reversed, we're seeing a lot of lawyers who are wanting to return to Saskatchewan," says David Stack, a partner and executive committee member with McKercher LLP. "Particularly those who know Saskatchewan is a great place to have a family and do business." Stack says business is good in a variety of areas. "There are a few sectors picking up including insolvency areas and some labour and employment related to layoffs. Those things are picking up to some degree but we also continue to be busy in areas of transactions and corporate law," he says. "We anticipate that Saskatchewan will see more business and we anticipate that will mean Saskatchewan law firms will be busier. And that will also likely mean more lawyers returning to Saskatchewan or showing an interest in coming to work in Saskatchewan." He says the firm plans to hire some recent law school graduates to add to the 60 lawyers already working in its Saskatoon and Regina offices. "We continue to grow as a firm and we're hiring new young lawyers. We've got a great crop of 660 329 16 306 766 appx.$70,000 Sources: Law Society of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon Region Association of Realtors, University of Saskatchewan Saskatoon by the numbers 1,684 313 3 36 149 313 351,641 Saskatoon city report Number of law society members in Saskatoon with active practising status: (includes law professors, and members registered for pro bono only) Private practice firms in Saskatchewan: (including solos) Number of firms with 11-plus lawyers 39 Percentage of members in Saskatchewan who practise in Saskatoon Number of female lawyers in private practice in Saskatchewan Number of male lawyers in private practice in Saskatchewan First-year associate salary in Saskatoon/Regina Total number of active members in Saskatchewan The number of firms in Saskatchewan with 10 lawyers or less Number of firms with 50 or more lawyers Percentage of lawyers in active practice in Saskatchewan who are female Number of female lawyers in private practice in Saskatoon Number of male lawyers in private practice in Saskatoon The average cost of a home in Saskatoon as of April 2015

• Cover