Law Times

Law Times • July 7, 2014 Page 15 www.lawtimesnews.com Lawyer-accountants Two professions combine 'very complementary skills' By Michael McKiernan For Law Times n accountant and a lawyer in the family sounds like every am- bitious parent's dream, but only a select few proud moth- ers and fathers can boast both des- ignations in one child. A very small band of profes- sionals have completed a second round of training to qualify as both a lawyer and an accountant. For Stephen Jones, the path to dual accreditation was a seren- dipitous one. After completing law school in Halifax and articling in Toronto in the early 1980s, he joined an accountancy firm to work on tax matters. His employers, one of the predecessors of KPMG in Canada, suggested he complete the char- tered accountancy program during his time with them. "I fell into it a bit but I found the accounting to be very helpful because I didn't come from a family involved in business or anything like that," says Jones. "I found when you had to do accounting and auditing, you were actually on the ground at these businesses, getting a look at them close up. Before that, I wouldn't have had much idea about how these businesses functioned." He practised both law and accounting at the Bank of Montreal in the 1990s, working first in its tax department and then its trust company subsidiary, and still calls on both sets of skills in his sole practice based in Oakville, Ont. "I find them very complementary skills. The work I do now is more legal than accounting, but working with trusts and charities, it's very helpful because you're constantly looking over at the financial reporting side of things," he says. "Clients are quite interested in it and it is a bit of a selling point." Al Meghji's route to becoming a lawyer-accountant was a little more deliberate. After a number of years practising as a chartered accountant at a firm that would later become PricewaterhouseCoopers, in the mid- 1980s he decided he "needed a change" and headed off to law school. According to Meghji, qualifying as a chartered accountant helped teach him discipline. He calls the process "probably the most de- manding thing I've done professionally." He still gets a lot of practical use out of his experience in his cur- rent position as a tax litigator at Osler Hoskin & Harcourt LLP in Toronto. Most of his clients are, like him, chartered accountants who head up the tax departments at large multinational companies. He says it's a huge advantage to be able to speak their language in a way a non-accountant may struggle with. "One of the things they need is legal advice that is not abstract. Some lawyers tend to think more conceptually about tax," he says. "I can bring a lot of familiarity to clients and I can actually have a conversation with them in a way they understand and also understand what they need." At Toronto tax boutique Morris Kepes Winters LLP, accounting links permeate the entire firm. Two of its nine lawyers are also char- tered accountants, while four others spent time working at large ac- countancy partnerships before joining the law firm. Firm founder Ian Morris' legal career got a kickstart from his bosses at a Montreal accountancy firm in the mid-1980s. The firm's tax group needed some legal expertise, and since he was the youngest and least es- tablished of the group, not to mention the most lacking in French, Mor- ris was the natural choice to head to law school. He says he's glad things turned out the way they did since he finds the legal side of tax a bit "more exciting and interesting." However, he also gave his blessing to his own son when he followed in his father's footsteps and qualified in both fields. "I definitely encouraged him to go that route. I think it's a great ad- vantage, both from an education and a marketing standpoint," he says. "In corporate law and tax law, there's certainly a lot of overlap." Morris Kepes Winters co-founder Robert Kepes says the firm dis- tinguishes itself from law firms affiliated with the big four accoun- tancy firms with its breadth of practice, even within the bounds of tax law. In addition to tax planning and litigation, the firm offers de- fence services for those accused of tax evasion and financial crimes. In recent years, it has also added a number of U.S.-qualified lawyers in order to grow its cross-border tax planning practice. "Being a boutique gives people confidence that we have the exper- tise. There's a lot of depth, but we're not a homogenous group because we cover the whole gambit of tax work," says Kepes. "When we recruit, we encourage our lawyers to gain outside expe- rience before focusing just on tax so they initially have a pretty broad base. If you're going to practise tax litigation, you have to understand first what litigation is." LT Let experts guide you through the substantive and procedural law governing the law related to litigation involving the Federal Crown. The Annotated 2014 Crown Liability and Proceedings Act includes the full English and French text of the Crown Liability and Proceedings Act, section-by-section commentary, digests of all relevant judicial decisions, and cross-references to related legislative provisions and secondary sources. You'll find expert analysis of the vicarious liability of the Crown, the nature of duties owed by the Crown, the limits on the availability of injunctive relief, and the immunity of the Crown and its agents from provincial legislation. And you'll get all the significant case law so you'll know exactly how the legislation has been applied by the courts. With a copy of The Annotated 2014 Crown Liability and Proceedings Act by your side, you'll be confident you're interpreting the legislation correctly. And you'll be certain you understand all the latest developments and cases that could impact your claim or defense. Get expert Guidance on the law GoverninG litiGation involvinG the federal crown New editioN The AnnoTATed 2014 Crown LiAbiLiTy And ProCeedings ACT ThE hon. Mr. JusTiCE DonALD J. rEnniE, BriAn J. sAunDErs, MiChAEL h. Morris, AnD JAn BrongErs order # 985555-65203 $190 hardcover approx. 300 pages December 2013 978-0-7798-5555-1 Shipping and handling are extra. Price subject to change without notice and subject to applicable taxes. 00216ZZ-A44939 AVAiLABLe RiSK-FRee FoR 30 dAYS order online: www.carswell.com Call toll-Free: 1-800-387-5164 in toronto: 416-609-3800 www.kuretzkyvassos.com Tel: (416) 865-0504 w Kuretzky_LT_Apr7_14.indd 1 14-04-02 9:08 AM FOCUS A Ian Morris headed to law school after start- ing at an accounting firm.

• Cover