Canadian Lawyer - sample

50 O C T O B E R 2 0 1 7 w w w . C A N A D I A N L a w y e r m a g . c o m "It's busy," agrees John Boscariol, head of the international trade and investment law group at McCarthy Tétrault. "This is a level of business that is here to stay." But it's not just trade treaties driving work. The Canadian International Trade Tribunal, which handles trade complaints, has been exceptionally active. According to its 2015-2016 annual report, the CITT made 27 rulings under the Special Import Measures Act, received 70 complaints related to 58 procurement contracts worth $2.5 billion and issued 95 reasons. It also heard 40 appeals. In terms of anti-dumping, the CITT is looking into everything from the dump- ing of liquid dielectric transformers to stainless steel sinks and various types of piping. "The heart of our work is trade dis- putes," Boscariol says of the trade lawyer bar. The current environment is an odd juxtaposition for trade lawyers. On one hand, there are more and more trade deals being signed and negotiated. At the same time, NAFTA, one of Canada's most important trade deals, is being re-negotiated amid a backdrop of a pro- tectionist U.S. president who has threat- ened to scrap it. Overseas, the U.K. has voted to leave the European Union, which will likely create headaches for Canadian exporters as they grapple with how they want to leverage CETA. On the domestic front, long-simmering disputes, such as softwood lumber, are back in the news, and dairy continues to be a thorn in Canada's side. Canada is also active globally in trade disputes. It has 35 ongoing cases at the World Trade Organization where it is a complainant, 20 where it's the respondent and 120 where it's a third party. That is one of the bigger case loads at the WTO. "We are busier than ever," notes Milos Barutciski, co-head of the international trade and investment practices at Ben- nett Jones LLP, whose firm recently hired two lawyers for the group. He joined Bennett Jones in 2006 to start its trade practice after a long career on Bay Street. Today, his group has a dozen lawyers. Barutciski says most large Bay Street law firms have not been suc- cessful in building out their trade law practices. It's one of those areas that lacks the sex appeal that mergers and acquisitions has, so there is a reluctance by big law firms to invest for the long haul, he says. "They dip their toes in when things are happening." He likens it to telecom or environ- mental, calling it a "specialty niche that the large Bay Street firms don't under- stand." As Barutciski sees it, a full-service trade practice comprises three buckets, which ebb and flow with the econo- my. The first is the traditional trade remedies, including anti-dumping and countervailing duties, which has "been picking up lately." The second bucket is what he calls regulatory, which centres on sanctions, export controls and procurement — areas that continue to grow as the gov- ernments around the world focus on the movement of goods across borders and rely more on procuring services and goods. The third bucket involves advising on treaties and negotiations. Canada con- tinues to actively enter bilateral agree- ments with various countries, in addi- tion to the multilateral agreements, cre- ating demand for legal expertise familiar with those treaties. Nonetheless, much of the focus this fall is on NAFTA, which has been in place for 23 years. Dattu says that has allowed North American companies to create "long-standing supply chains" based on the existing rules of origin set out in the agreement. If U.S. President Donald Trump succeeds in his "Amer- ica first" effort and the rules of origin change, Dattu warns "all this could get disrupted." Boscariol adds that there is "a lot of uncertainty" and all trade lawyers can do is "give an educated analysis on how we think this might unfold." In the end, whatever happens, trade lawyers will likely be in demand. Dattu says based on his experience with the implementations of NAFTA and before that the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agree- ment, "the workload for international trade lawyers generally increases when negotiations are underway, but then when implemented, there is an incred- ible up-tick in the amount of work arising from interpreting and advising clients." Jim Middlemiss is a principal at Web- NewsManagement.com. B A C K PA G E O P I N I O N @JimMiddlemiss By Jim Middlemiss rade law is a growing business and it's likely going to get bigger. You can thank the North American Free Trade Agreement negotiations and trade deals such as the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement and the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Factor in Brexit, a spike in trade remedy complaints and it's almost a perfect storm for lawyers in that field. Riyaz Dattu, a trade lawyer at Osler Hoskin & Harcourt LLP in Toronto, notes that there are "dramatic changes" afoot. He notes that CETA, Canada's trade deal with the European Union slated to come into effect in late September, "will open up new export markets for Canadian businesses by making Canadian products duty free and, therefore, more competitive. CETA will also enhance the ability of Canadian companies to sell to governments of the EU member countries." Lawyers ride trade law boom T

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