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Law Times • augusT 23, 2010 NEWS PAGE 5 905 business growth spurs demand for legal help Continued from page 1 DuMoulin LLP, concurs with Mikkola that Mississauga is a good place to do business and therefore practise law. "Ninety per cent of my files are similar to those I worked on downtown," she says. During the past 20 years, the Mississauga economic develop- ment office has done a good job of attracting U.S. and international corporations. Today, 61 Fortune 500 and 50 Global 500 Canadian head offices or divisional head of- fices are located in Mississauga. Asked why she joined Pallett Valo, Turrin cites a number of reasons. "I liked the culture of the firm, the sophisticated client Nicholson on defence Continued from page 1 when watch "Public confidence erodes law-abiding individuals people found guilty receiving sentences that do not reflect the sever- ity of their crimes," he said, brushing off concerns about the cost of the approach. "There is a cost to pro- tecting Canadians, but most of the costs are borne by vic- tims of crime." Loreley Berra, a member of the CBA's Saskatchewan branch, raised concerns that rigid rules would exacer- bate the overrepresentation of aboriginals in the justice system by limiting the op- tions available to judges in sentencing. She noted she comes into contact with a disproportionate num- ber of aboriginals during the course of her work as a Crown prosecutor and is "perplexed" about how the new sentencing rules would fit with Gladue principles. "There are alternatives within the aboriginal justice system, and the success rate is there," Nicholson said, tout- ing other government strate- gies that address the issue. Nicholson also came un- der fire for the Conservative government's failure to do more on legal aid funding, its refusal to demand Omar Khadr's repatriation, and its decision to prorogue Par- liament. At the same time, Montreal lawyer Simon Pot- ter accused the government of lacking respect for the au- thority of Parliament. But Nicholson defended the government's right to ap- peal the Khadr issue all the way to the Supreme Court and trumpeted his own role in brokering the deal that allowed MPs access to Afghan detainee documents after a ruling by the Speaker of the House. "We came to an agreement with two of the three opposi- tion parties, which shows the system works," Nicholson said. "We are committed to the parliamentary system." base, and that there is almost an equal number of men and women lawyers. And this grew organically rather than fulfilling quotas or establish- ing policies to help women advance. That impressed me. "Many of the lawyers work just as long, if not longer, hours as downtown, but that's because they live closer to the office so they don't have a two- hour commute every day." Of course, with all those Fortune 500 Canadian and di- visional head offices, one of the legal services those companies need is intellectual property, something that Ridout & May- bee LLP has found helpful to its business. "Ridout & Maybee recognized early on the need for specialized IP services in Missis- sauga," says Peter Hammond, a partner at the Mississauga office of the boutique firm. "I could make a good argu- ment that the work we do is more interesting because at least 60 per cent is for independent be more routine work. Swimming against the 'One of the reasons why we set up shop in Oakville was the number of lawyers who referred work to us,' says Stephen MacDonald. inventors and local Mississauga firms," he adds, noting that the bigger downtown firms often handle Canadian patent protec- tion issues on behalf of interna- tional corporations, which can stream, however, is lawyer Ste- phen MacDonald of MacDon- ald & Swan LLP, a boutique personal injury litigation firm based in Oakville, Ont. As a resident of Toronto's Rosedale neighbourhood, he's been commuting from the 416 since he and partner Eric Swan left Thomson Rogers in 1998. "When we formed a bou- tique firm, we consciously made the decision to work less but we're more experienced and effective now," says MacDon- ald. "One of the reasons why we set up shop in Oakville was the number of lawyers who referred work to us. My partner Eric and I thought the area west of High- way 427 all the way to Hamil- ton was being under-serviced." As well, they knew that Oakville, Brampton, Burlington, and Niagara-on-the-Lake were home to lots of wealthy people who may need representation in the event of personal injury. Ted Evangelidis is somewhat of a boomerang who left Pallett Valo for five years to go to Torkin Manes LLP. "I was not unhappy at Pallett Valo but I really wanted to try the 416 thing — try the bright lights, big city," he says. "What I found was that many of the clients I was serving were, in fact, based in Mississauga." Evangelidis, who focuses on corporate commercial and securi- ties litigation, says he was drawn back to Pallett Valo because of its dynamic culture. He tells a funny story that gives another hint about why he returned. "One year, at our annual Pallett Valo February Blues party for clients, I wore a flamboyant hot-pink dress shirt that I bought at Holt Renfew. That shirt was never forgotten. So on my last day at Pallett Valo in March 2005, they sent an e- mail around for everyone to wear pink to give me a proper send- off. And on my first day back at Pallett Valo in April 2010, to my chagrin, everyone wore pink to welcome me back." LT Diamonds are a lawyer's best friend You don't need to search through mountains of irrelevant decisions in our online services. Select decisions chosen by experts are denoted with a to help you quickly identify the best decisions first. Then you can consider the rest of your search results. Diamond decisions are available in the following Canada Law Book online services: • BestCase • Canadian Employment Law (Ball) • Canadian Patent Reporter online • Criminal Pleadings & Practice (Ewaschuk) • Criminal Spectrum • Dominion Law Reports online • Labour Spectrum For product details and pricing information visit www.canadalawbook.ca LT A Thomson Reuters business www.lawtimesnews.com