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 A N U A R Y 2 0 1 7 35 familiar with, I don't know, but it's hard to really change the way we bill for our services," Chalmers says. Gordon says in her experience, clients are often requesting a flat fee, and "we look at changing some of the ways in which we deliver the service. "Can we do certain things for a flat fee? Can we do the services differently? Is there a blend of technology and profes- sional services that are going to be deliv- ered in lieu of what was the traditional pure lawyer service?" Gordon asks. Chalmers puts it down to trust. When you have an excellent relationship, you can work together to come up with an AFA that works for both sides. "I think we could really improve the way we do business if we could do a bet- ter job of developing these AFAs," Chalm- ers says. For the past few years there's been an increase in in-house departments at insurance companies and a growing willingness of companies to keep a lot of their legal work in-house, Chalmers notes. What follows is therefore less work being referred to external counsel. For Chalmers, it's simply a different form of competition for Hughes Amys LLP — in-house counsel instead of other firms. "There are just more players in the business," he says. Gordon has noticed the trend, too, but she says she doesn't think it's stopping a lot of the carriers from still referring out work "of a certain level of complexity or that is a jurisdictional challenge." Ontario insurance defence firms are facing uncertainty with the new accident benefit regime. Along with other changes over the past few years, there were major reductions made by the provincial gov- ernment to statutory accident benefits, beginning in June. Another of the big changes is pro- cedural. Disputes under the Statutory Accident Benefits Schedule will now fall under the jurisdiction of the Licence Appeal Tribunal instead of the Financial Services Commission of Ontario. Chalmers says nobody really knows how it's going to work or what the impli- cations might be for insurance defence firms in Ontario. He notes it could mean fewer files for outside counsel, which leads to managing partners trying to pre- dict the future of accident benefits in the province so they can position their acci- dent benefits departments accordingly. "I think we had in the past few years a real bulge in which there was a number of AB files going through the system, and now we're looking at this new regime and thinking, How many AB lawyers do we really need?" he says. "How many files are there going to be going forward? And because of the uncertainty of the LAT, we really don't know. It's kind of a wait- and-see approach." Benson Percival Brown LLP [Toronto] bensonpercival.com Benson Percival Brown LLP is in its 60th year. Since its founding by Philip Benson and Roy McMurtry, it has provided representation for numerous national and international insurance companies. Its alumni includes two Ontario attorney generals, a chief justice of Ontario, three Ontario Superior Court justices, two Ontario Court justices and three masters. "They have the lowest rates, the best results, timely reports and expertise like no other firm I have dealt with in 35 years," noted one voter. Top Insurance defence boutiques listed alphabetically Chomicki Baril Mah LLP [Edmonton] cbmllp.com CBM lawyers have been in the insurance defence market in Alberta since 1954. Today, the firm has grown to 27 full-time law- yers who handle insurance claim disputes across personal, commercial and specialty lines. Clients include domestic and inter- national insurers and self-insureds who turn to the firm for claims, coverage, subrogation and risk management matters. The firm has acted for one leading insurer for more than 50 years and others for more than 40 years. "Chomicki Baril Mah LLP has an exemplary reputation. They do all aspects of insurance defence. They have a large team of lawyers with a broad range of experience and knowledge," enthused one voter.

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