Canadian Lawyer

34 M A R C H 2 0 1 8 w w w . C A N A D I A N L a w y e r m a g . c o m BY MALLORY HENDRY TOP 10 QUEBEC REGIONAL FIRMS Sunny times ahead Business is booming for Quebec's top law firms, with a robust economy, government spending and exciting technologies bubbling up By Aidan Macnab Canadian Lawyer asked lawyers, in-house counsel and clients from across Canada to vote on the top full-service, regional firms in Quebec. They were asked to rank their top firms from a preliminary list, with a chance to nominate a firm that was not included on the list. Respondents' rankings were based on firms' regional service coverage, client base, notable mandates, service excellence and legal expertise. To be considered in the vote, firms were required to have offices only in Quebec and offer a wide range of legal services. The final rank- ings were determined through a points system, in which firms were rewarded on a sliding scale for the number of first- to 10th-place votes received. HOW WE DID IT artificial intelligence. As the AI scene ascends, Quebec's top law firms are trying to establish themselves as partners. Lavery opened the Lavery Legal Lab on artificial intelligence. BCF has established BCF Imagine, a resource-sharing partner- ship the firm offers to startups, many of which are involved in AI. "We really feel that the legal profession cannot evolve without doing a deep dive into artificial intelligence," Trudel says. Gerry Apostolatos is partner and chair- man of the board of directors of Langlois lawyers LLP. Apostolatos is a litigator and says this area will be revolutionized by AI technology. In other areas, this transition is already taking place. "AI is going to literally transform the practice of litigation," he says. "On the transaction front, it's already being trans- formed as we speak, with e-discovery and other technology." Eric Lalanne, president of De Grandpré Chait LLP, says AI in Montreal feels like a "gold rush." But the technology has not been implemented to the extent where it is itself significantly altering the delivery of legal services just yet, he says. "It isn't there yet. I think all the law firms are waiting to see how this will play out with our day-to-day practices and how we run our firms, but I would say we haven't felt at this level yet the direct impact of this technology," Lal- anne says. "I think it's probably a good five years before we see a direct impact." AI is not the only sector booming. Lal- anne says that after a decade-long lull in the mergers and acquisitions market, his firm is seeing it pick up. He also sees a lot of future growth in the area of tax litiga- "B esides the Montreal Canadiens, everything is fine in Quebec and Mon- treal," jokes Mario Charpentier, managing partner and founder of BCF Business Law. A robust economy, a lot of jobs and billions of dollars in planned government spending are good news for law firms in Quebec. Those at the helm of the firms rated as Quebec's best, according to Canadian Lawyer's Top Quebec Regional Firms survey, said they were swimming in work as 2018 got underway. The economy grew by 2.8 per cent in 2017. Unemployment is the lowest it's been in 40 years, at 5.4 per cent. This year will see upward pressure on wages, with only labour supply holding the economy back from even greater expansion. All of this is according to RBC's December report. Economic forecasts are so sunny in la belle province that Standard and Poor's upgrad- ed Quebec's credit rating to AA- last year, which is a higher rating than Ontario's. "The economy is really, I would say, booming," says Anik Trudel, CEO of Lavery de Billy LLP, which was voted Quebec's No. 1 law firm in Canadian Lawyer's survey. "I think we can say with a straight face that things are going well in Quebec," she says. The province's technology sector is growing, with Montreal becoming a mecca for

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