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December 13, 2010

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Law Times • December 13, 2010 NEWS Miller Thomson's Western union Merger with Saskatchewan's Balfour Moss latest in law firm mergers BY MICHAEL McKIERNAN Law Times M iller Th omson LLP became the latest large Canadian fi rm to get in on the merger act last week as it absorbed Saskatchewan's Balfour Moss LLP. Th e deal, which has been in the works since the spring, will see 24-law- yer Balfour Moss, with offi ces in Regina and Saskatoon, begin operating under the Miller Th omson name on Jan. 1. Th e merger follows hot on the heels of blockbuster deals in the Canadian legal marketplace. Last month, Lang Michener LLP and McMillan LLP united to form Canada's 12th-largest fi rm with about 400 lawyers nationwide. Subsequently, Ogilvy Renault LLP announced its plan to com- plete an international union with U.K.- based Norton Rose Group this June. "You've got three sets of fi rms that have embarked on quite diff erent strat- egies in the short term," says Miller Th omson chairman Gerald Courage. Th e move continues a trend of steady growth at Miller Th omson. A series of mergers in the last decade have seen the fi rm establish offi ces in Edmonton, Cal- gary, Vancouver, Montreal, and smaller Ontario cities like Waterloo, Guelph, and London. In the last fi ve years alone, the fi rm has doubled in size to 480 lawyers once the new Saskatchewan offi ce is included. It's a reputation was a critical factor for Miller Th omson in reaching the agreement. Th e fi rm has a 115-year history and has built a name for itself by serving a wide vari- ety of clients in real estate development, institutional lending, and franchising. It is also known for its strong litigation and administrative law practices. "Th e people there are terrifi c," Cour- age says. "Th ey will fi t in instantly as part- ners at our fi rm. We're very careful about fi nding a compatible culture in our merg- er partners. We look for well-established law fi rms in the market because that local knowledge gives us a real advantage." In a statement, Brian Scherman, 'You've got three sets of firms that have embarked on quite different strategies in the short term,' says Gerald Courage. trend Courage expects to continue. "Our partners are proud of what we've accomplished, and we're ambi- tious for where we want to take the fi rm," he says. "We want to continue to expand and grow." Th e merger will also make Miller Th om- son the fi rst national fi rm to establish a presence in Saskatchewan. Th e province is bucking the national trend through an eco- nomic boom. As annual growth is forecast to hit 6.3 per cent by the end of the year, Miller Th omson wants a piece of the action before rivals cash in. According to Courage, local clients with a reach beyond Saskatch- ewan will benefi t from his fi rm's national infrastructure. "It's a province on the upswing and it's getting increasing attention for its resourc- es," he says. "Th ere's uranium, potash, oil and gas. It's a terrifi c opportunity." Courage says Balfour Moss' strong local a senior partner at Balfour Moss, agreed that the two fi rms are a good match. "Miller Th omson appealed to us because of their open, approach- able, no-nonsense approach to prac- tising law," he said. "We share simi- lar values, including a client-fi rst approach." Scherman believes both the fi rm's lawyers and its clients will benefi t from the merger. "Joining ranks with a na- tional law fi rm will allow us to pursue growth opportunities in the Saskatch- ewan market that are currently out of our reach," he said. "Many of our cur- rent clients are extremely successful and growing rapidly. Th ey will also see great benefi t from the bench strength this merger provides." LT Study finds link between profits and senior lawyers' looks M BY MICHAEL McKIERNAN Law Times anaging partners with powerful-looking faces lead more prof- itable law fi rms, according to a study by a psychology professor at the University of Toronto. Nicholas Rule found partici- pants could predict how much money a fi rm makes simply by looking at the web site pictures of its managing partners and judg- ing how powerful they look. But it's not just the intense glamour shots chosen to adorn fi rm web sites that matter. Re- markably, Rule and co-author Nalini Ambady of Tufts University found the same eff ect when partic- ipants judged university yearbook photos of the same people. "Even before they enter law school, without any formal le- gal training at all, their faces are predicting their fi rm's success today," Rule tells Law Times. "It indicates that these facial characteristics are stable from one time to the next, so it's not just the pictures you pick to put up that's important." Rule used pictures of man- aging partners from American Lawyer's top 100 fi rms of 2007 and asked participants to score the faces based on qualities such as dominance, maturity, trust- worthiness, and likeability. Th e study then averaged the domi- nance and maturity scores to form a measure of power, which correlated positively with the profi ts of those fi rms. Rule expects the same to be true of Canadian managing part- ners. Previous work has shown it's possible to predict electoral success based on the faces of can- didates in both countries. "Th e results in the U.S. and Canada are pretty much identical," Rule says. "Th ey tend to elect the same people, and I'd expect to see the same with managing partners." Of course, it's unlikely law fi rms are picking their manag- ing partners based on their faces, Rule notes, adding it's probably the case that leaders' power- ful characteristics have uncon- sciously aff ected the way people deal with them and, in turn, the way they see themselves. "If people, even as children, look like they may have a certain type of potential, they will actu- ally be given a chance to devel- op it," he says. "Th ey might be selected for the student council by the teacher or moved to the front of the line to set an ex- ample to the class. Th ose things can not only cause those people to see themselves as a leader, but it also gives them the opportu- nities to get training, allowing them to develop into a better leader. It's a cyclical process." At the same time, fi rms shouldn't be tempted to hire the candidate with the most power- ful face. In fact, Rule says hiring committees should be aware of potential bias for powerful-look- ing candidates when selecting people for posts. "In being aware of it, we can account for it when we're interviewing people for a job. When we know that we'll be infl uenced, even unconsciously, by the appearance of the people we interview, you're going to think about that and try to really focus on other things to make sure I get the best candidate." At the same time, Rule has words of comfort for those with a low power quotient in their face: you're in good company. "Winston Churchill certainly did not have a face to predict he was a successful leader and, of course, he was, so there are lots of counter-examples," he says. In the U.S. study, the manag- ing partner's face could explain 14 per cent of a fi rm's profi ts. 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