Canadian Lawyer

in, because that will lead you on a path where you're going to excel, and hopefully then you'll make more money. You have to have a strong passion for what you're doing to build a very strong practice," says Heller. But some niches are more reliable than others when it comes to cold, hard cash, and we've identified some beacons of success for those with hearts persuaded by a more financial passion. A M&A cream of the M&A crop, with at least one Bay Street lawyer billing $1,050 an hour. According to Kennedy, some may be put off by a career in M&A for fear it puts them too much at the mercy of the markets, especially "D C following the recent credit crunch and its continuing reverberations. But Sharon Geraghty, the co-head of the M&A practice group at Torys LLP, says the area's significance has actually surged since the financial crisis. "In recent years, the capital markets have really slowed down in Canada. Before that, we also had a big income trust phase that was an incredibly active area of practice, before the government shut it down from a tax perspective, so I think M&A has started to take on even greater importance," she says. With large financial players waiting it out on the sidelines until we hit calmer economic waters, high-end firms like Torys have been able to sustain a mergers practice with a series of strategic deals. Geraghty says a good M&A lawyer must learn to juggle moving parts and multiple viewpoints. She cut her teeth on the Royal Bank of Canada's 1993 merger with Royal Trust, and currently represents TMX Group Inc. in its discussions with Maple Group, a consortium of 13 financial institutions. "It's one thing to sit in your office and come up with a great solution to a technical problem, but you have to come up with a way for it to work for the other side, because otherwise, you're not going to actually complete the deal," she says. Both Geraghty and Kennedy say the outlook is bright on the deal front in the near future. "I think it'll come back. I've been recruiting for a long time, so I've seen it down and then go back up again," says Kennedy. "The other thing too is it's a very marketable skill set, so if you want to transition to an in- house role, it's a lot easier to do than some other specializations." TAX anada's tax code comes with a reputation that intimidates a lot of lawyers, but Borden Ladner Gervais LLP partner Steve Suarez has always found himself drawn to the challenge. "Everyone seemed to be afraid of tax because it was so complicated, and nobody wanted to do it, which did give it a certain appeal at law school," he says. "I thought there was no reason why I couldn't figure it out if I put my mind to it, and it's been a rewarding decision for me." According to ZSA's Kennedy, clients will pay a premium for top-tier tax lawyers precisely because of the complexity that scares so many off, as well as the amount of money that can be saved from an efficient tax plan. "Tax is such a complicated area that I would say a senior tax practitioner would charge a pretty significant billing rate, just because of the years of experience and layers of complex knowledge that goes into it," she says. And the most experienced lawyers in the tax field are now frequently charging clients between $800 and $1,000 an hour. Suarez points out the fluidity of tax law also keeps practitioners constantly on their toes. "It's not like a corporate statute or a securities statute that you can pick up from year to year and not see much change. There's draft legislation that comes out literally every year, and the federal budget has always got something, plus one or two technical bills during the year with various new initiatives," he says. "During the first two or three years of practice you find yourself doing a lot of very discrete research projects on specific topics, and it's really only after you've done a few years of continuous practice that the dots start to connect and the bigger picture starts to develop of the whole scheme and how it ties together." Tax law at a large firm tends to be dominated by transactional work, says Suarez, who estimates about two-thirds of his work is related to deals. The remainder consists of advisory work for corporate and individual clients. He says lawyers may have to fight for their fees in the future as accounting firms step up competition to the profession in matters of tax. "In the years to come we have to figure out how we can continue to do what we do in a way that is competitive and ultimately better than people outside the profession," he says. www.CANADIAN Lawyermag.com JUNE 2012 27 eal work is the corporate engine of a lot of law firms, and that's where a significant amount of their revenue comes from," says Susan Kennedy, managing consultant in the Toronto office of ZSA Recruitment. "If money was your aim, I'd say go into M&A because that can be quite lucrative." Most industry observers would agree. They report hourly rates that have shot through the four-figure barrier for the INDIVIDUALS ccording to Carrie Heller, the president of legal recruiter The Heller Group, specialization is the key to a lucrative legal career. "Certain lawyers have managed to really carve out a niche, where they have expertise that few others have, and that is where you're going to be able to charge the highest hourly rate," she says. "It all depends on how good you are, how much of a niche you're in, and how respected you are." In the search for that crucial area of expertise, she says lawyers have to follow their hearts. "Go for an area that you're really interested

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