NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015
26
INHOUSE
more national fi rms on our panel and there
are confl icts, we do have boutique fi rms to
avoid that confl ict but still give our insured
strong representation."
At York University in Toronto, the legal
department uses boutique fi rms in a range
of areas including insurance defence, but
also for advising internal administrative
tribunals and for U.S. tax issues. While
the institution has continued to retain the
services of the same national fi rm for many
decades, it began using boutiques in 2008
to address specifi c skillsets. "The reason
we're still using boutiques remains valid —
they have the specialty services we require,"
says Christine Silversides, director of legal
services, offi ce of the counsel at York.
"There is the added bonus of lower billing
rates sometimes, but I haven't found that
to be consistent across the board with the
specialty boutique fi rms." For insurance
matters, the university uses a specialty
insurance defence boutique fi rm used by
many Canadian universities.
Like York, Chubb also uses boutiques in
Canada and the United States. "As a U.S.-
based company, we in Canada don't have
as much control over the panel list in the
U.S.," says Kargas. "In certain jurisdictions,
we have smaller fi rms — in Ontario we
''
''
The reason we're still using boutiques
remains valid — they have the specialty
services we require.
CHRISTINE SILVERSIDES, York University
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