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 S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 7 33 porate-only law firm, and litigation boutiques such as Lenczner Slaght Royce Smith Griffin LLP and Paliare Roland Rosenberg Rothstein LLP. "I think that is partially a trend from the globalization of the firms because those specialty firms are often breakaways from the larger firms and as those firms become even larger from globalization, more people leave and for some reason they drift toward those types of firms," he says. "The diversification of our service and practice areas has always been fundamental to the growth and development of the firm — we're very strategic about it. We respond [to the rise of specialty firms] by saying we just want to have the best lawyers we can have in these diverse practice areas that we've chosen to be strategic on." The ongoing impact of technology is also demanding a response from the firms. A lot of the work traditionally done by throwing people at it can now be done more effectively and efficiently by throwing technology at it, says Sachdeva. For him, the challenge is getting lawyers to stay up to speed on modern technology and make the most use of it, but he notes it's difficult to get lawyers — especial- ly older lawyers — to change the way they've always done things, but that task is "going to be front and centre for a lot of us. "Clients are saying we're going to pay you X for this project, we don't care how you do it, how you manage it, that's what you're getting paid," he says. "So, we have to figure out how to do it for X while still maintaining a profit margin." Says Cohen, "People who are being prudent understand what the technology offerings are today and what you need to do to as a firm to try and be current." But, he says, the challenge lies in how fast things can change operationally. He says you just don't know what the next six months might bring — you're "trying to keep up with what you don't even know yet you're going to have to keep up with. That's become a bit more of a topical business issue." Another area where Torkin Manes makes it a priority to stay current is technology security. "I think it's become more of an issue for our clients," he says. "They want to make sure we've taken the necessary precautions and implemented the appropriate security measures to protect our systems, which contain their information." Peter Cronyn, partner at a newcomer to the list, Ottawa's Nel- ligan O'Brien Payne LLP, says the judicial system and to some degree the legal world has not kept pace with the rest of the world in terms of its utilization of information technology. "Our clients are going to look for other ways to solve their problems, so we as a profession and in general in the legal indus- try need to move much more in the direction of solving that problem," he says. Nelligan O'Brien Payne sees technology as "a way for us to remain nimble in terms of responding to clients' needs" using traditional knowledge sources but paired with the ability to share that information and provide solutions much more readily and cost effectively through IT, Cronyn says. Then there are the perennial issues facing regional firms. "I think the challenges never really change to a degree," says Cronyn. "The reality of it is clients would like to receive efficient, cost- effective legal services. If you look at just trying to, as much as possible, provide some value to your clients, you're going to have lots of them." Scarfo agrees, saying the challenge remains delivering servic- es with as little waste as possible, but she notes it can be difficult because "it's the change of the mindset between a lawyer think- ing, 'This is what I must do because I've always done it this way' to 'No, this is what I have to effectively do in order to provide excellent service for the client.' "It's that ability to think about how to provide legal services in a way that someone actually wants them, will pay for them and is looking to you to actually deliver them because they feel [that] 'these lawyers get us' — that's effective lawyering," she says. Succession planning is also a continuous issue for mid-size firms. Cohen says his firm is very strategic in terms of recruit- ment and growth and focus on the transition from current management to the next group of managers. "When we look at recruitment opportunities, we will always take into account the demographic component," he says. "We see future leaders in our firm in their 30s, we see them in their 40s, we see them in their 50s." Sachdeva says the heart of the issue is that firms that have been around for 30 or 40 years now have the name partners

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