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 35 WEIRFOULDS LLP WEIRFOULDS.COM Total lawyers: 101 Office: Toronto Core practice areas: litigation; corporate; property; government law; international Key clients: public and private corporations; governments, public authorities and agencies; entrepreneurs; national firms seeking regional representation; non-profit and public interest organizations and indi- viduals Notable mandates: acted for Honeywell International Inc. in the acquisition by plan of arrangement of COM DEV International Ltd., a leading satellite and space components provider of switches and mul- tiplexers; acted as co-counsel for Trillium Motor World Ltd., the class representative for 181 former General Motors dealers, in the highly publicized Trillium Motor World Ltd. v. General Motors of Canada Ltd. and Trillium Motor World Ltd. v. Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP; acted for the LCBO in the acquisition of its head office lands from a joint venture among Menkes Developments and Greystone Man- aged Investments, with Triovest Realty Advisors acting as advisor to Greystone, for $260 million following a procurement process man- aged by Infrastructure Ontario; acted for the Regional Municipality of York in the planning, development, land acquisitions and construction of the Vaughan Metropolitan Centre; represented approximately 15 companies and partnerships (the "CCAA Filing Entities") within the Urbancorp group of companies in respect of the filing entities' pro- ceedings under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act; acting for Toronto-based e-book retailer Rakuten Kobo Inc. in its successful application to rescind a consent agreement between Canada's Com- petition Bureau and four major publishers, the first time a third party has succeeded in having a Competition Bureau consent agreement rescinded; acting for PCL Constructors Inc. during the course of a $2-billion hospital redevelopment P3 project in the GTA, including strategic advice relating to disputes arising from the project Star alumni: four treasurers of the Law Society of Upper Canada; Supreme Court of Canada Justice Thomas Cromwell; former Ontario chief justice George Gale; former Supreme Court of Can- ada justice Roy Kellock; former Ontario Court of Appeal justices James Carthy, Allan McNiece Austin and John Arnup; Ontario Superior Court justices Joan Lax and Paul Perell Affiliations: SCG Legal Firm history: WeirFoulds LLP has established itself as one of Canada's premier regional law firms, and it has provided strategic, cost-effective and innovative legal advice to clients since 1860. WeirFoulds has thrived by becoming a true partner to clients, ensuring that legal advice addresses their priorities. The firm is repeatedly ranked as one of the Canadian Lawyer Top Ontario Regional Firms, and it is regularly listed in Novae Res Urbis Top 10 Development Law Firms in the GTA. With roots firmly planted in the Greater Toronto Area and a client base that is large and diverse, the firm offers responsive and effective client service. "It has a range of lawyers with excellent litigation experience and skills. It practises a broad range of litigation and also has a strong complement of corporate and real estate lawyers." "Top lawyers at affordable prices." "Expert dealmakers and problem solvers." retiring. While not a problem to the same extent for the bigger firms, if you're a firm of 30 to 50 lawyers, it's likely a critical time in the next few years, he says. The focus is on recruiting and retention at Pallett Valo. "It's a generation of lawyers who move around a lot and it's important for a firm our size to get the right people and hang on to them," Sachdeva says. "It's constantly making sure you get the right people, keep the right people and have them come up the ladder." Cronyn says that from generation to generation, there are always changes between how lawyers see the world, but "when you look at the world that younger lawyers have grown up in, which has completely been dominated by full and robust inter- net, with iPhones, with texting — the way they communicate is so vastly different from the generation before. "All of us have to find ways to make that succession work and certainly we are trying to do that in our firm," he says. Despite the challenges, there is still a seat at the table for regional firms. "Over the course of the past decade, the larger firms have vacated the field when it comes to small and medium enter- prises and so for regional firms that's where the opportunities lie," Cronyn says. "I think that's where most of the regional firms are going. There's plenty of room for great opportun- ities and lots of room for innovation on the legal side. Our task is to evolve and work in a way to provide solutions for that kind of market." "We live in challenging times — anybody who pretends that they aren't struggling with challenges every day aren't being can- did," says Borsook. "But I think as a regional firm we have some- thing to offer to our clients that they seem to be interested in which is sophistication with respect to what it is we have to offer at a price point that's reasonable compared to our competitors." Sachdeva agrees, saying he thinks there's still a strong market for regional firms. "There's plenty of work to be had within Ontario," he notes. "Privacy has become a big area in the last two to three years that wasn't there before. So it's looking for new areas where you can provide services to your clients and add value as opposed to just doing the traditional real estate, litigation, cor- porate-commercial." Cohen says his firm is happy with where it is in the mar- ket, but that doesn't mean it can't "continue to improve or do things better." Scarfo says it remains a really exciting time for the regional firms and the main reason is "they can provide their services locally, globally, nationally." There are ways to do it in a variety of practice groups, she says, even if it means having different kinds of arrangements. "With a little creative thought, you can run a very profit- able business and you can run a business where you have the added value that everyone knows each other well and can enjoy practising together because having that small commun- ity is a wonderful thing." TOP 10 ONTARIO REGIONAL FIRMS 1

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