Canadian Lawyer

future C Looking to the top boutiques in the areas of litigation, tax law, and immigration law. By Michael McKiernan anada's litigation boutiques are looking to the future. Finding a firm with the right mix of experienced and emerging talent was a recur- ring theme in this year's top boutiques search, and some of our winners have been the most successful at striking that balance, proving that succession planning works at firms of all sizes. "A number of boutiques in Canadian legal history have started with great strength, but have been unable, or sim- ply unwilling, to carry it on. Sometimes people don't want to and it lasts as long as the careers of founders," says Tom Curry, a partner at Lenczner Slaght Royce Smith Griffin LLP — a firm he says has shown a commitment to outlasting the five name partners who departed McCarthy Tétrault LLP in 1992 to go it alone and start the firm. "From the begin- ning, people have been attracted here by the reputations of the lawyers, and it remains true, because we've been able to duplicate that strength in the younger generations. I'm fasci- nated by the challenge of maintaining the strength over the long term, and I find one of the things that really adds to my law practice is the opportunity to develop other people and pass along things," says Curry. And while litigation boutiques have been able to thrive in the shadows of their full-service counterparts, sweeping up referrals on the largely conflict-free sidelines, they aren't afraid to go up against Bay Street in the market for the hot- test new litigators. Randy Kaardal, a senior partner at Hunter Litigation Chambers in Vancouver, says his firm has no problem recruiting the top candidates out of law school, including those who've had clerkships at the Supreme Court of Canada and other appellate courts across the country. "They get to see our people before those courts and get a sense of the type of files that we are on, which tend to be interesting and exciting to be a part of," he says. At the same time, Kaardal says the big-firm history of Hunters' senior litigators has been crucial, allowing the firm to develop a style that some of their larger corporate clients will recognize. "Clients that are involved in sophisticated litigation expect the work product to look a certain way. We have that capacity, so it's relatively seamless when we're referred by one of the large commercial law firms," he says. And ex-Big Law partners aren't confined to the litigation field. Barbara Jo Caruso left Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP in 2006 to form Corporate Immigration Law Firm with Gowlings immigration consultant Harry Goslett, although the pair didn't move physically too far from their old digs. "When we branched out, having a Bay Street address was important, because it provided us with a certain amount of credibility with existing clients that were prepared to deal with us outside of the national law firm. Some were con- cerned that we didn't just set up in our basements, and do the work there," she says. Caruso says lawyer referrals have helped the firm flour- ish since its founding. "I think other firms feel comfortable referring to a boutique knowing we're not going to take their employment or their real estate work, or forget where the file came from," she says. Few large law firms place an emphasis on business immi- gration, which has left plenty of room for boutiques in the marketplace. One of the largest players in the market is Egan LLP, an affiliate of accounting giant Ernst & Young, which also made our list. Another EY affiliate, Couzin Taylor LLP, is on our tax law boutique list, where accounting firm affili- ates are a growing player in the market. But Brent Perry, a partner at Alberta-based tax firm www.CANADIAN Lawyermag.com A PRIL 2012 33 Canadian Lawyer 's

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