Canadian Lawyer

34 A P R I L 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 Whitespace Legal Collab in Toronto to allow for greater collaboration between its lawyers and leaders in business, academia and not-for-profits with a view to the global challenges facing business, law and technology. Coon says the practice of law is chang- ing. It's no longer about simply doing a legal risk assessment. It's about helping clients manage their brand and reputational risk on a global level. "We have those skills and the ability to provide that type of advice, but it takes a shift in mindset," he says, noting that "the practice of law in five years is going to be dramatically different than today." Beth Wilson knows the Big Four well. Prior to joining Dentons Canada as CEO last July, she was managing partner of KPMG Canada. She says the Big Four are good at technology implementation and streamlining processes, which makes legal services ripe for overhaul. "The firms that are going to be most impacted are mid-sized regional and national law firms for the simple reason [that] they don't have the global platforms that so many clients want." She says her firm has the scale to invest in technology and attract the best talent to develop the delivery models that will drive the legal business into the future. Dentons developed Nextlaw Labs in 2015 to spur innovation and technological change and incubate ideas for new products and processes to transform legal services delivery. They have since launched various Nextlaw initiatives, including a global pub- lic affairs network and an in-house strategic consulting service comprising 50 former general counsel. Shawn McReynolds, managing partner at Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP, is taking more of a wait-and-see attitude. "I am watching," says McReynolds, whose firm has a large tax and M&A focus so its lawyers often rub shoulders with the Big Four. "The real issue is what are they going to do outside the tax space" in Canada, he says. "We have not seen them taking steps to do what they did in the 1990s," when A s the Big Four expand their legal services offerings, it presents new opportunities for lawyers. In 2012, immigration lawyer Howard Greenberg made a calculated business decision to forgo independence and bring his immigration law firm, Greenberg Turner, into the KPMG fold. He hasn't looked back. Greenberg, national practice leader – immigration at KPMG Law, says it was apparent to him that the future success of a cross-border immigration practice hinged on the ability to leverage global resources. "There are limits as to how suc- cessful and how much expertise you can provide to multi-national corporate clients without access to resources worldwide." He considered both global law firms and other Big Four practices and concluded that "the accounting firms with their tax depth, related advisory services and [global] reach appeared to me to be the future solution." Now when Greenberg gets a call from a client, it usually involves mul- tiple jurisdictions, and while it might start with an immigration question, invariably, other issues arise that impact the ability to make an immi- gration move. "You have to look at issues in a much more comprehensive way," he says, noting that the Big Four environment is "agile" and it is all about delivering a range of advisory services and adapting to meet future needs. "We are implementing new ways of looking at the business with the assistance of our professional coun- terparts worldwide." He identifies three benefits to a Big Four environment that have made his group a better provider of legal services. First is investment in technology. Greenberg Turner had its own IT department that had developed some custom solutions. "We brought it to an organization that recognized the value of it, and we built on it" — which would have been a costly undertaking for a standalone firm. Second is marketing and know- how. Greenberg notes that the "opportunities to market to and address the concerns of corpora- tions is significantly wider from a professional firm platform than it is from a local firm platform." Because it is a multi-disciplinary environment, the ability to tap other services internally to solve a client problem brings efficiencies to the table. Third is the entrepreneurial nature of a global professional services firm and the willingness to pursue things such as alliances. In January, KPMG Canada's legal arm entered into an innovative marketing alliance with Immidart Technologies LLP, which helps companies automate their immi- gration processes. KPMG Law LLP will provide legal services that support Immidart's cross-border mobility solutions. Greenberg is looking at other similar arrange- ments. He warns, though, that joining a Big Four firm isn't for everyone. They are large, complex organi- zations and Greenberg likens it to getting married. "You don't just marry your spouse; you get their family, too. For people who like big families, it's attractive. For people who feel overwhelmed by them, steer clear." The biggest difference between Greenberg's independent prac- tice and being at KPMG is that he "spends an unusually larger period of time thinking." There was also an unexpected benefit to the environment. "I think we became better global business people" and clients benefit from that, he says. LIFE INSIDE THE BIG FOUR

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