Canadian Lawyer

FIELD LLP (5) FIELDLAW.COM Total lawyers: 115 Lawyers by office: Edmonton, 65; Calgary, 46; Yellowknife, 4 Core practice areas: Health; insurance; labour and employment; business law; real estate develop- Affiliations: State Capital Group The firm: Field Law's roots trace back to 1915, when Sem Wissler opened up shop in Edmonton. But the firm's ment; commercial litigation Key clients: University of Alberta; Brookfield Residential (Alberta) LP.; Alberta Teachers' Association; Alberta Health Services.; major insur- ance companies; major financial institutions Notable mandates: Defence of class actions in the health- care sector; acted for the government of the Northwest Territories in its successful defence at the Supreme Court of Canada of a fatality claim arising from the death of nine miners; represented a large number of former residential schools victims in their claims; acted for the vendor in a transaction involving the sale of 120 rehabilitation and physiotherapy clinics across Canada Star alumni: About 20 justices and judges of the courts of Alberta modern era began in 1996 with the merger of Field & Field Perraton and Atkinson Milvain to form Field Atkinson Perraton, which had a presence in Calgary and Edmonton. In 2001, the firm joined with Williams & Co. in Yellowknife, and in 2003 changed its name to Field LLP, supported by the brand name Field Law. The firm won praise from voters for its business savvy: "It runs itself like a business and has structured management and a strategic plan," said one voter. Another said Field Law has a "well deserved reputa- tion of providing quality services to their clients, on a time- and cost-efficient basis." Managing partner James Casey says the firm sees 7 itself as a centre of excellence in certain areas of exper- tise. Most recently, the focus has been on intellectual property and technology law: "We've had rapid growth in those areas, and acquired number of lawyers from other firms," says Casey. ALEXANDER HOLBURN BEAUDIN + LANG LLP (8) AHBL.CA 8 Total lawyers: 78 Office: Vancouver, 78 Core practice areas: Insurance law; commercial litigation; Group; ARC Group Canada The firm: AHBL emerged in 1973 with the merger of corporate and commercial law; banking and financial services; construction and engineering; insolvency and restructuring; intellectual property; transportation Key clients: Regional, national and international compa- nies in the aviation, banking and insurance industries, among others; governments and municipalities, and individuals with business interests and legal needs in B.C. Robson Alexander & Guest and McLachlan Holburn & Beaudin. But the roots of predecessor firm Robson & McDonald take it back even further to 1948. Since the merger, the firm has gone through a pair of name changes, from Alexander Guest Wolfe Holburn & Beaudin LLP to Alexander Holburn Beaudin + Lang LLP. The firm won praise from voters for its innovative Notable mandates: Acts as counsel for the general contrac- tor in a $300-million hotel and residence project in Vancouver; defended North Saanich councillor Peter Chandler in a defamation suit, one of the first to raise the responsible communications defence; counsel to the Toronto Airport Authority in class action litigation arising from a 2005 Air France runway overrun crash; Canadian counsel in a bi-national mass tort litigation regarding radiant heating, including involvement in negotiation of US$320-million settlement Star alumni: Withheld Affiliations: The Law Firm Alliance; The Participating lawyers and impressive litigation group. "Reasonable cost for excellent results," commented one voter who placed it top of their list. Managing partner David Garner says the firm has been concentrating on strategic alliances and referral networks to keep the work flowing in. He also says the firm's commercial litigation practice is well placed to capitalize on an expected spike in activity as the eco- nomic recovery gathers pace. "People are fighting about the things they need to right now, and waiting to see which way the winds blow with the economy for a lot of other things. Once it picks up, there's going to be a bit of a backlog to clear, " he says. www.CANADIAN Lawyermag.com OCTO BER 2012 39

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