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 F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 6 3 t's barely past the middle of January as I sit to write this editorial and already the waves of change, some might even call them disruption, are crashing on the shores of the Canadian legal business. There's two more notches in the lipstick case of the globalization of legal practice with the arrival here of Axiom, which has purchased the general counsel business of Canadian legal services pioneer Cognition LLP, and international labour and employment firm Ogletree Deakins Nash Smoak & Stewart PC, which gets its first beachhead in Toronto. Ogletree's entry into the Canadian market seemed not so much part of a plan for global domination as a confluence of events. As Hugh Christie told our Legal Feeds blog, it started with a conversation with Ogletree's managing shareholder Kim Ebert in which the two got to talking about how conflicts were impeding cross-border growth for labour firms. Christie, the former chairman of the national employment and labour practice group at Gowlings, saw great opportunities that just weren't available to him in his position within a national, full-service firm. Thus, a new Ogletree outpost was born, with a former partner and associate from Gowlings joining him to start the Toronto office. That adds to one of the world's largest labour defence firms, which already has 750 lawyers across 45 offices in the U.S. and three global outposts in London, Berlin, and Mexico City. While I wouldn't yet tag it as a trend, Ogletree's is the second global labour and employment boutique in the last six months to enter the Canadian market. Last August, 1,000-plus-lawyer firm Littler absorbed well-known Toronto boutique Kuretzky Vassos into its array of more than 60 worldwide offices. But the entry of Axiom into Canada is perhaps more significant in that it vali- dates that Cognition's and others' (such as Conduit Law's) business model is work- ing in this country. Axiom uses the corporate tag line "law redefined" and describes itself as "a leading provider of tech-enabled legal services. With over 1,500-plus employees across three continents, we experience a nerdy excitement from improv- ing the way legal, compliance, and contracts work is done." Put simply, it's law done differently. Axiom's proven track record in the U.S. and the U.K. will mean that law firms will be attacked on their turf — which includes fairly routine work for very large buyers of legal service. It won't happen overnight, but it will happen faster than in the U.S. or the U.K. because the model is already proven. It took Allen & Overy and others more than three years to come up with an answer to Axiom's incursion into its legal market. Canadian law firms will not have that much time. So, with the winds of change already blowing quite strongly, there's one more change in the legal landscape worth noting. Marc-André Blanchard, one of the first law firm leaders to boldly introduce significant changes to the business struc- ture and service delivery models of his firm, leaves his post as chairman and CEO of McCarthy Tétrault LLP to take on a new post as Canada's ambassador to the United Nations. He has had a great impact on the profession in the country that will continue to be felt. E D I T O R ' S D E S K @canlawmag gail.cohen@tr.com A mighty wind By Gail J. Cohen Director/Group Publisher: Karen Lorimer karen.lorimer@tr.com Editor in Chief: Gail J. Cohen gail.cohen@tr.com Staff Writer: Yamri Taddese yamri.taddese@tr.com Copy Editor: Patricia Cancilla Art Director: Bill Hunter Production Co-ordinator: Sharlane Burgess sharlane.burgess@tr.com Contributors: Jean Sorensen, donalee Moulton, Pascal Elie, Geoff Ellwand, Marg. Bruineman, Jim Middlemiss, Richard Foot, Judy van Rhijn, Janet Guttsman, Jennifer Brown Canadian Lawyer is published 11 times a year by Thomson Reuters Canada Ltd. All rights reserved. Contents may not be reprinted without written permission. The opinions expressed in articles are not necessarily those of the publisher. Information presented is compiled from sources believed to be accurate, however, the publisher assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions. Canadian Lawyer disclaims any warranty as to the accuracy, completeness or currency of the contents of this publication and disclaims all liability in respect of the results of any action taken or not taken in reliance upon information in this publication. Advertising Sales Representatives Joseph Galea Tel: (416) 649-9919 E-mail: joseph.galea@tr.com Steffanie Munroe Tel: 416-298-5077 E-mail: steffanie.munroe@tr.com Kimberlee Pascoe Tel: (416) 649-8875 E-mail: kimberlee.pascoe@tr.com Grace So Tel: (416) 609-5838 E-mail: grace.so@tr.com Canadian Lawyer Thomson Reuters Canada Ltd. One Corporate Plaza, 2075 Kennedy Rd., Toronto, ON. M1T 3V4 Tel: (416) 298-5141 Fax: (416) 649-7870 E-mail: cl.editor@tr.com Web: www.canadianlawyermag.com Linkedin: linkd.in/179bx8t Twitter: @canlawmag Publications Mail Agreement #40766500 ISSN 0703-2129 © 2016 HST Registration #R121349799 RETURN UNDELIVERABLE CANADIAN ADDRESS TO: CIRCULATION DEPARTMENT One Corporate Plaza 2075 Kennedy RD., Toronto, ON. M1T 3V4 RETOURNER TOUTE CORRESPONDANCE NE POUVANT ÊTRE LIVRÉE AU CANADA AU SERVICE DES PUBLICATIONS One Corporate Plaza, 2075 Kennedy Rd., Toronto, ON. M1T 3V4 Circulation/Address Changes/ Subscriptions Keith Fulford Tel: (416) 649-9585 Fax: (416) 649-7870 E-mail: keith.fulford@tr.com Subscription rates: Canada1 year print and digital $99 plus HST, 1 year digital only $99. Outside Canada 1 year print & digital $99 USD, 1 year digital only $99. For all circulation inquiries and address changes send a copy of your mailing label or labels along with your request in writing to Canadian Lawyer, One Corporate Plaza, 2075 Kennedy Rd., Toronto, ON. M1T 3V4 Indexed in the Canadian Periodical Index CORRECTION The name of Roper Greyell founding partner Tom Roper was inadvertently omitted in the firm's description in last month's Top 10 labour and employment boutiques feature. Canadian Lawyer apologizes for the error. I

• Cover