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 U L Y 2 0 1 7 41 For Simon Tremblay, the outgoing pres- ident of the Montreal bar and a litigation lawyer who became a celebrity across Que- bec for his role as assistant counsel in the Charbonneau Commission, the corporate legal scene in Montreal is undergoing a transformation. "Billable hours and hourly rates are becoming flat rates," says Tremblay, who now leads the legal department in the city of Laval just north of Montreal. "We're also seeing more limited-scope mandates, depending on the issue." There is also "a lot internalization," adds Tremblay, who has been on a law- yer-hiring spree over the past year in an effort to develop Laval's in-house legal capacities. "Some insurance companies in Montreal have some of the biggest litiga- tion departments in the city." For McCarthy Tétrault's Tabbakh, the increased competitiveness of the Montre- al market is also resulting in a segmenting among top-tier firms, which he puts in three buckets: elite firms with high-stakes mergers and acquisitions and big litiga- tion; groups of firms joining international firms to become full-service business law firms; and boutique firms that specialize in specific areas. "If you're not in one of those you will not be able to attract the same talent to succeed in the market and offer services to your client," he says. Other challenges also cloud Montreal's otherwise sunny legal skies. One is restricted access to justice, which hinders Montreal firms' efforts to deliver streamlined services that respond to client requests for combined costs and quicker responses. "We need more Superior Court jus- tices," says Gordon. "We have a very busy courthouse. This morning there were about 100 cases on the roll, and just as many lawyers in the holding room for motions. You can go in the morning and not come out until 3 p.m. That's not good for clients who have to pay lawyers to sit around all day." She praises a spate of recent measures meant to speed up proceedings in both civil and criminal trials in Quebec. A major reform is the new Quebec Civil Code of Procedures. Introduced on Jan. 1, 2016, it makes the search for settle- ments through alternative dispute resolu- tion mechanics an obligation on judges, who are in turn pushing litigants to reach settlements and avoid trials. Widely praised as a major improve- ment in access to justice, the change has nonetheless hurt small litigation and gen- eral business law firms in Montreal, like elsewhere in Quebec. "Business has not been so good in the last five or six years," says François Richard, one of three lawyers in Videira Richard Avocats, a small firm in downtown Mon- treal. "It was better 10 years ago. We seem to be in the bottom of a cycle." According to Richard, the new Civil Code of Procedures has given rise to a new way of doing things that is hitting his bot- tom line hard. "We're still getting the same number of cases, but they involve fewer hours and less fees," he says. "That's why I took a busi- ness and civil meditation course and got a certificate in ADR. You have to adapt to remain relevant. Hopefully, things will pick up for us going forward." Montreal city report COMING SOON Visit www.canadianlawyermag.com and www.lawtimesnews.com soon to see the transformation for yourself. We're redesigning our websites for improved navigation and easy access to the latest in legal news, features, digital editions, video and more. A FRESH LOOK FOR YOUR MOST TRUSTED LEGAL CONTENT ntitled-5 1 2017-06-14 4:03 PM

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