Law Times

PAGE 2 NEWS March 12, 2012 • Law TiMes BY JULIUS MELNITZER For Law Times Canadian law firms and in-house law depart- ments are struggling to keep up with the chan- ges that clients are demanding. That's not the case with Spectrum HR Law T LLP, a firm with offices in Vancouver, Calgary, and Lethbridge, Alta. To be sure, it did have an advantage on the learning curve. By the time the firm opened its initial offices in Vancouver and Calgary in February 2010, the evolution in the provision of legal services was well underway. "The eight lawyers who started the firm saw a unique way to practise law, starting with 'We don't accept individuals as clients,' says Shana Wolch. the opportunity to create a boutique law firm concentrated on human resource-related legal services," says Shana Wolch, a founding partner based in Calgary. "There was a lot of strategic planning that preceded our opening as we tried to figure out how to approach the delivery of legal services and adapt to the industry and the market." The three components of the firm's practice — labour and employment law, business immigration, and pension benefits and executive compensation — neatly complement each other, allowing the firm to bill itself as "Western Canada's first and only boutique provider of integrated HR legal solutions." The firm practises human resources law to the point where its client base is comprised entirely of employers. "We don't accept individuals as clients," Wolch says. The firm has two primary billing models, which it calls defined-scope and project- specific models. The defined-scope model envisages a retainer that defines a range of services to be DEFINITIVE GUIDANCE ON TAX COURT PROCEDURE TAX COURT PRACTICE ROBERT McMECHAN, B.A., LL.B., LL.M., AND GORDON BOURGARD, LL.B., LL.M. NOW ON CD-ROM For more than two decades, Tax Court Practice has been your definitive resource when preparing for court. Now this authoritative guidance is available to you in the courtroom on the NEW CD-ROM for Tax Court Practice and bonus Portable Tax Court Practice, Act and Rules. This new folio-based CD-ROM for Tax Court Practice is a completely searchable version of all the contents in this comprehensive two- volume work. It allows you to tailor your search precisely with: Hypertext linking Folio functionality Legislation and cases linking to our premier online tax service, Taxnet Pro® The new CD-ROM will be available with the next release of case updates, May 2012. provided over a defined period of time. "This model, which usually includes general advice on HR matters, enables clients to pick up the phone without concern that the six-minute-increment clock is ticking," Wolch says. "We believe and our clients believe that this is a proactive way of handling their issues because it encourages them to call us to help manage the issues before they become problems." In drafting the defined-scope retainer, Spectrum's lawyers discuss anticipated needs for the duration of it with the client. "What that allows us to do is to include services that might otherwise not come within the scope of typical defined services, such as creating an entire policy handbook for a company," Wolch explains. The project-specific model is basically what it sounds like: a set fee for specific projects. "This comes into play either when new clients engage us for specific matters or where existing clients encounter an unanticipated specific project," Wolch says. "One example is where a new client asks us to assist them regarding termination issues and representation throughout termination negotiation in a specific case." The arrangements always end, however, at the point where litigation commences. "But even then, we resist the hourly rate billing model where possible and use a tariff system that is specific to the type of representation we would provide," Wolch says. "We also have other models, but our main goal is to be cost-effective and to provide cost certainty to the clients." The firm's practice model is effective, Wolch believes, because its internal structure isn't hierarchical and its approach is extremely collaborative. "Our web site doesn't even indicate which lawyers are associates and which lawyers are partners, which allows individuals to build practices without constraint," she says. One of the firm's clients is Inter Pipeline Fund, an energy infrastructure owner and oper- ator that has 323 employees in Canada as well as operations in Britain and Denmark. "We don't have in-house lawyers who specialize in HR," says Anita Dusevic Oliva, the company's Calgary-based senior legal counsel and corporate secretary, of her five-lawyer department. "So we use Shana as if she were our in-house HR lawyer, and our HR person calls her almost every day and almost always gets an immediate answer." The in-house lawyer mentality that Spectrum provides also produces more prac- tical advice. "Spectrum is willing to give advice on a less formal basis than outside counsel," Dusevic Oliva says. "So what we get is practically oriented advice rather than an outline that contains every ORDER # 9574612 $478 2 volume looseleaf supplemented book + CD-ROM Anticipated upkeep cost – $152 per supplement 3-4 supplements per year Supplements invoiced separately 0-459-57461-2 single worst-case scenario that outside counsel can think of." Dusevic Oliva has been delighted with the flat-fee arrangement with Spectrum. "Flat fees are appealing to clients, but it's not something to which we found a lot of law firms were moving, especially in employment matters," she says. "And that's too bad because what we've discovered is that flat fees not only create certainty AVAILABLE RISK-FREE FOR 30 DAYS Order online at www.carswell.com Call Toll-Free: 1-800-387-5164 In Toronto: 416-609-3800 Shipping and handling are extra. Prices subject to change without notice and subject to applicable taxes. in the budget but produce a different level of service in the sense that our HR manager is not reluctant to call early on and get an answer before things go wrong for fear of the cost that the conversation might produce." But is Inter Pipeline ahead or behind in terms of sheer cost? "We haven't done that analysis but we're getting the right kind of service within a structure that represents a fair arrangement for everyone," Dusevic Oliva says. For his part, Andrew Fleming of Norton Rose Canada LLP's Toronto office says flat-fee arrangements are starting to make headway in Canada. "We did a significant amount of work in 2011 on a flat-fee basis for a good cross-section of clients, but pharmaceutical firms in particular," he says. Did that turn out to be profitable for the firm? "On average, we're not down but we're also not really up," he says. "However, the trend will continue because it works for clients and offers law firms a chance to increase their efficiency, be innovative in the way they deliver services, and ultimately make more money." LT Untitled-1 1 12-03-02 9:11 AMwww.lawtimesnews.com he news that the legal market is changing rapidly is now so trite that it could be considered old news. What's still news, however, is that many Alta. firm blazes trail with alternate fee model

• Cover