Law Times

Page 12 November 24, 2014 • Law Times www.lawtimesnews.com Evolving practices Some firms changing incrementally as ABS debate rages By Julius melniTzer For Law Times lternative business structures and related cataclysmic changes have captured much of the attention given to develop- ments in the rapid evolution of modern legal practice. But while the debate continues over the potential for new models, it turns out that there's no shortage of in- novative, if incremental change wrought by entrepreneurially minded Canadian lawyers. Here are a few examples. CorPoraTe GovernanCe BouTiQue PHenomenon Boutiques, of course, are nothing new. What is new is the emer- gence of boutiques dedicated to areas of the law that were largely the exclusive province of firms with full-service corporate co mmercial practices. The one getting the most has been Hansell LLP, founded in 2013 by Carol Hansell, who left Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP after spending two decades there. The new firm advises boards, inves- tors, shareholders, and manage- ment teams in crisis and other special situations as well as with respect to their governance prac- tices generally. As Hansell sees it, she had little choice but to leave Davies. "I had the same problem the liti- gators did," she says. "There were so many conf licts, there's no way I could have built the practice at Davies as much as we have at Hansell LLP this past year." Quite apart from traditional conf licts, she says independence issues were emerging. "If a board was looking for independent counsel, people are getting con- cerned about whether a large firm, which might be cross selling services, has an important rela- tionship with the company," she says. "So I saw an opportunity in going out on my own." Opportunity is now reality. As of the end of 2014, Hansell LLP will boast five lawyers, leading Hansell to predict the firm will boast 30 to 40 staff members within the next five years. "I call us a micro firm," says Hansell. The practice is growing rapidly despite the fact it turns away a sig- nificant volume of work. "We are very focused and refer a lot of work to other firms," says Hansell. "In a large firm dynamic, there are a lot of priorities, but we don't have that problem here and can concentrate exclusively on our specialty." Hansell envisages a firm that can go beyond legal advice. "So whereas we might build out a litigation practice in gover- nance law, we're also interested in bringing in-house, non-legal ex- pertise like communications and public relations which are relevant to governance issues," she says. flaT fees aCross THe Board " We're probably the first law firm in Canada to offer f lat fees across the board," says Allison Speigel of Toronto's Speigel Nichols Fox LLP, a commercial litigation bou- tique with expertise in business law. "More specifically, we offer the f lat fees on a case, project or phase-of-a-matter basis." That should surprise no one who has seen the firm's plucky web site. It unabashedly bills it- self as "big law alumni challeng- ing the status quo" with a group of mostly large firm expatriates "who are redefining the tradi- tional legal model." The key to Spiegel Nichols' philosophy is merging the f lat- fee approach with what the firm calls customization. "Customizing is all about finding out what clients' expec- tations are and meeting those expectations," says Speigel. "It ranges from how services are delivered [and] includes how often the client expects meet- ings to be updated, where they want meetings to occur. All these things affect pricing, but as a rule nobody talks about it." There's one other twist. The f lat fee in litigation matters is actually two fees with each de- pending on the outcome. "What happens when you combine f lat fees with results-ori- ented fees is that you align the fi- nancial interests of the client with the financial interests of the law firm," says Speigel, who spent five years in New York at Shearman & Sterling LLP and McKool Smith before returning to Toronto. "What we've done changes every- thing about the firm, including how we pay our lawyers." ClienTs GeT lasT word on fees Toronto-based Conduit Law PC has come up with the unique idea of a client value adjustment line. It's very simple: a space on each invoice allows clients to ad- just their bill to ref lect the value they believe they received. "No questions asked," promises the firm's web site. "We trust our cli- ent that much." And why is Conduit doing this? "We have a continuous incen- tive to do our best work and to de- liver the most value to our clients," the web site states. "After that, we trust our clients to make their as- sessment and tell us how we did." The 11-lawyer firm functions as a service that provides in-house counsel with lawyers "to address your needs as they emerge within your business." It provides lawyers who fill gaps in in-house teams; targeted lawyers aimed at every- thing from short-term projects to special engagement; and embed- ded lawyers who are essentially a general counsel on demand who works at the client's office. LT FOCUS REASONABLE DOUBT? If you're building your case with anything other than Canada's new and most comprehensive resource for criminal cases and expert commentary, it's only natural to wonder if you've missed something. NEW! WestlawNext® Canada CriminalSource™ Go to court with confidence. westlawnextcanada.com/criminalsource A Carol Hansell predicts her firm will have 30 to 40 staff members within the next five years.

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