Law Times

Page 9 Law Times • November 25, 2013 Focus On Business of Law Understanding unique conditions key to practising in the North BY Julius Melnitzer For Law Times A s Prime Minister Stephen Harper continues his push to assert Canada's presence and sovereignty in Northern Canada and the Arctic, law firms are among those who believe he means business, including legal business. Interestingly, two of the practicioners leading their firms northwards have practised in the arenas of admiralty, navigation, maritime, and shipping law. Among them are Peter Pamel of Borden Ladner Gervais LLP's Montreal office and Wiley Spicer of Norton Rose Fulbright Canada LLP's Calgary office. Pamel, who has practised maritime law with specialized expertise in Arctic shipping for some 26 years, latched on to the idea of what BLG now calls its Team North some five or six years ago. "We began hearing stories from some of our clients in the oil and gas industry that they might have approached certain Arctic projects differently had they understood the landscape," he says. "So a few of our lawyers came together with the idea of finding out what the North is all about so we could perhaps start a practice that focuses on the North." It wasn't an easy sell internally. "Focusing on geography rather than on an area of law was a different way of doing business, but we found some key people who shared our vision," says Pamel. "Slowly, the support grew and eventually we had some success that has snowballed to the point where it's been a wonderful ride over the last few years." Pamel, who led Team North for five years before passing the baton to colleagues Adam Chamberlain in Toronto and Neil McCrank in Calgary, is careful to point out that it wasn't just a matter of selling legal services in the usual way. "Our first goal was to understand the North because we knew that you could get run out of town if you just went down there and told northerners how to do their business," he says. "In fact, the first time we went out there, no one would give us the time of day because they perceived us as just another big law firm from the south." But Team North persisted and members spent their first year on the job travelling through the region. "After a time, people came to see we were interested in their communities, especially as we began investing in community events and charities," says Pamel. The resulting mandates have been diverse and include advice and support in matters before the Nunavut Impact Review Board; counselling mining companies regarding permitting, approval, and impact and benefit agreements with aboriginal communities; advising regional health authorities on a variety of legal issues including potential liability arising from the proposed introduction of a traditional healing program into the region's health services mandate; acting on the acquisition of heavy equipment distribution and pipeline construction in the North; advising a banking syndicate active in the Northwest Territories; assisting a territorial government on procurement matters; and providing advice on the resolution of a blockade issue concerning railroad property passing through reserve lands. "At this point, we've had about 70 lawyers who have got work out of the Team North initiative," says Pamel. "We've had a good mix of work from aboriginal communities, industry, government, and mining companies." The experience garnered from working with the Inuit has been particularly valuable. "It has given us a wealth of knowledge regarding the landscape and the need to give focused, value-added advice that goes well beyond general advice," says Pamel. By way of example, Pamel cites the negotiation of contingency clauses in infrastructure contracts. "If you're considering the availability of equipment, you can't just assume that a party can go to the local store and purchase what they want because there may be no local store and the ship carrying the equipment may not be coming in soon," says Pamel. "In other words, what the negotiators have to understand is that if something goes wrong, you can lose the entire season." However simple that may seem, it's not intuitive to southerners. "Our instincts just don't operate in the context of being at least 500 miles from anywhere," says Pamel. "You have to spend at least a bit of time up there to understand what remoteness really is." From all accounts, BLG's presence and mandates in the North are well ahead of many other major firms, but that doesn't mean that competitors aren't looming. Among them are Norton Rose Fulbright where Spicer, like Pamel, has extensive experience — some 35 years — in the shipping industry and is a recognized authority on the relationship between the offshore oil and gas industry and maritime law both on the East Coast, where he's a former managing partner at McInnes Cooper, and the Arctic. When he arrived at Norton Rose Fulbright in 2012, the firm had been working on setting up a northern and Arctic team 'Focusing on geography for about a year. "The firm had been involved on a Baffin Island rather than on an area of iron ore project and was of the law was a different way view that the North had a great of doing business, but we deal of potential for clients and legal work," says Spicer. found some key people "To begin with, there was who shared our vision,' evidence of substantial oil and says Peter Pamel. gas deposits and three major oil companies — Conoco Phillips, Chevron, and Imperial — already had a presence in the Canadian Beaufort." Also driving progress in the Arctic is the growing navigability of the Northwest Passage, a development widely attributed to climate change. "Traffic on the northern sea route on the Russian side has gone up exponentially in recent years," says Spicer. Spicer also predicts adventure tourism will flourish in the North, as it has in Scandinavian countries, to the extent that regular cruise ship visits could be on the horizon with proper infrastructure in place. He notes the potential for lucrative seabed mining may exist as well. "Ultimately, the North and the Arctic are a long-term play," he says. "What we're trying to do now is deal with the oil and gas and mining work that already exists by way of exposing the next generation to the issues that clients have to deal with so that those lawyers will be on the cutting edge when the new areas of work come around." Like Pamel, Spicer is careful to point out that the skill set required in the North involves a real understanding of the region's unique conditions. "On the oil and gas side, for example, you need to know a lot more about the effect of ice on vessels and rigs, the effect of cold weather on people's ability to do the job, and the behaviour of oil over and under the ice," he says. "Familiarizing yourself with all this may not have much to do with traditional skills but it will go a long way to ensuring that you understand your clients when they're trying to explain their problems to you." LT E. V. Litigation & Financial Services Inc. Elaine G. Vegotsky, CMA, CFE, CFI Assisting you in Litigation & Forensic Accounting, Financial Investigations Suite 900 45 Sheppard Avenue East, Willowdale, Ontario M2N 5W9 Toronto, Ontario M2N 5W9 Telephone or Fax (416) 930-1370 (905) 731-5812 evlitigation@rogers.com www.lawtimesnews.com Vlit_LT_Jan9_12.indd 1 12-01-03 11:38 PM

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