Canadian Lawyer InHouse

41 CANADIANLAWYERMAG.COM/INHOUSE MAY/JUNE 2018 Top 10 Labour & Employment Boutiques Listed alphabetically ROBIC LLP Montreal, Quebec City robic.ca Founded in 1892, ROBIC LLP is one of Canada's oldest full-service IP firms. With a team of 180, including over 55 intellectual property professionals located in two offices, the firm covers all aspects of IP prosecution, IP enforcement, technology transfer and commercialization. It acts for some of the most well-known global and local brands in a wide variety of technological fields. The firm says its success and reputation is in large part the result of its ongoing focus of tailoring its specialised services to its clients' specific needs. Shift Law Toronto shiftlaw.ca Since launching six years ago, Shift Law has had a number of litigation successes including in trademark infringement, copyright infringement and breach of confidence cases. The firm has serviced hundreds of clients, including individual artists, microbreweries, technology startups, an iconic Canadian clothing company and institutional clients with large trademark portfolios. Its mandates include acting for the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada and other charitable organizations in day-to-day intellectual property matters. Shift Law's founder, John Simpson, credits the firm's success to its personalized approach to client service. Smart & Biggar/ Fetherstonhaugh Calgary, Ottawa, Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver smart-biggar.ca Smart & Biggar is Canada's largest IP boutique and is well known internationally. It provides a full range of IP services including strategy, trademark and patent portfolio management, licensing and transactions and litigation. Victories for the firm's clients in 2017 include: Barteaux Durnford Halifax, N.S. barteauxdurnford.com Barteaux Durnford was founded in 2015 on the reputations and employment and labour experience of Eric Durnford and Nancy Barteaux. With a focus on management issues, the firm's growing team of lawyers represents private and public employers and First Nations communities across a diverse range of business sectors: education, fishing, construction, technology, hospitality, entertainment and non-profit organizations. A homegrown labour and employment boutique in Atlantic Canada, Barteaux Durnford is known for successful outcomes in negotiated settlements, arbitration, litigation and collective bargaining. The firm provides solutions on day-to-day matters and conducts independent workplace investigations. Barteaux Durnford serves multinational operations locally and abroad as Atlantic Canada's only member of the Employment Law Alliance, a global network of select employment and labour lawyers. Filion Wakely Thorup Angeletti LLP Toronto, Hamilton, London, Ont. filion.on.ca Founded in 1982 by Warren Winkler, Roy Filion and David Wakely, this 43-lawyer firm acts exclusively for employers in diverse sectors of the economy — from energy and manufacturing to health care, education, transportation and government. Clients include Enterprise Rent-a-Car, National Car Steel, Roots and McMaster University. Filion cites depth of experience and a focus on its clients' businesses as its greatest strengths. The firm's lawyers are regularly recognized for excellence, including most recently the Canadian HR Reporter 2017 Employment Lawyer of the Year ( Jamie Knight) and the Lexpert Zenith Awards, celebrating women in the law. Filion is the single Canadian member of L&E GLOBAL, an alliance of over 1,500 employers' counsel worldwide, giving clients requiring complex cross- border labour and employment services access to a single global legal powerhouse. obtaining patent damages of $645 million (Dow); abolishing the "Promise Doctrine" for patents in the Supreme Court of Canada (AstraZeneca); preventing the use of confusing "trade dress" to block competitors (Diageo); obtaining a precedent-setting copyright decision, and damages of $12 million (Nintendo); and, enforcing copyright as an "architectural work" for a building structure (Lainco).

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