Law Times

Law Times • November 22, 2010 NEWS Firms must go global: panel Ogilvy Renault deal drives home message about internationalization BY MICHAEL McKIERNAN Law Times yers and law fi rms, according to a panel of transactional legal experts. "International is not only A here, it's here with a vengeance," said John Claydon, Lex Mundi's director of professional develop- ment. Claydon was one of the panellists at an event on the future of transactional legal practice last Tuesday hosted by the University of Toronto Faculty of Law. He pointed to a string of recent transatlantic law fi rm mergers that have seen U.K.-based fi rms link up with American counterparts but emphasized that last week's an- nouncement by Ogilvy Renault LLP of its deal with the Norton Rose Group should drive the message home in Canada. "What we are seeing is a global legal services market that a relatively small number of international fi rms are tak- ing over," Claydon said. At the same time, as busi- nesses increase their focus on the new economic powerhouses of Brazil, Russia, India, and China, law fi rms will have to follow. "Th e big fi rms are moving away from mature legal markets in the U.S. and Europe and heading into the new, emerging econo- mies," Claydon said. "Even though they're highly protec- tionist about the provision of legal services, there's a sense that that's not going to last long." Th e event launched the law faculty's new global profes- sional LLM program, which dean Mayo Moran said is de- signed to address the challenge of practice in a modern global economy. Th e university is targeting practising lawyers in the private and public sectors, as well as counsel for corpora- tions, other business executives, and government offi cials with a strong interest in law. "Canadian law fi rms are in- creasingly looking to do their work across jurisdictions, and we think Canada is particularly well-positioned to take that lead- ing role in the world of law," Mo- ran said. "We see this program as part of doing that and part of equipping graduates to operate in the changing world." Th e university says its pro- gram is the only one in Canada focusing on global business law, an area in which law- yers must consider a maze of complex fi nancial regulations, cross-border rules, and highly mobile workforces. It's off ering the 12-month program during evenings and weekends through a combina- tion of law and business faculty members along with leading legal experts. According to Norman Leta- lik, a partner at Borden Ladner s the economy becomes increasingly globalized, so must corporate law- Gervais LLP in Toronto, inter- national work can be a way for lawyers to diff erentiate them- selves in an increasingly com- petitive legal market. "Th ese days, there's all the more reason for law fi rms to get involved in global work because only a few fi rms can do it so, bluntly, you can charge more," he said. Competition in the legal market has commoditized many legal services in Canada, Letalik noted, with many fi rms able to perform the same func- tions well and making price the deciding factor for clients. Law- yers must go beyond knowledge of the law to really serve and re- tain clients, he added. "In the future, there'll be wi- kis to tell you what the law is in a particular jurisdiction. Th e real value added that lawyers provide is the application of the law to the needs of the clients, particu- larly in the business sector. You have to really know your client's business environment." Claydon also said the de- mands of international transac- tions are pushing fi rms towards lawyers who have a completely diff erent set of skills, which puts a greater focus on management and leadership. "Corporate law- yers in the future will have to quarterback strategically among lawyers from various countries, auditors, regulators, and gov- ernment offi cials to get the best results for their clients." Carole Silver, a professor at In- diana University's Maurer School of Law, said senior partners at ma- jor law fi rms want lawyers who PAGE 3 Michael Trebilcock, left, John Claydon, Carole Silver, and Norman Letalik speak at the U of T event on globalization and the law last week. are more effi cient and responsive to clients. She teaches a course on project management, which she said can be a simple way to help lawyers improve their relation- ships with clients. "It's not rocket science. It's all about communication and it takes some time and eff ort but it's certainly not mysterious." Silver noted Canadians might have an advantage over Americans in developing an international practice because they tend to be more culturally sensitive, an important skill for global lawyers to acquire. "Language has a lot to do with it — whether you can carry on a conversation in the local lan- guage. You also need to have some cultural fl uency. Th at means being familiar enough with the culture to know where the pitfalls are." For his part, Letalik said law schools could learn a lot from business faculties that encour- age students to work collabora- tively. Even at large fi rms, which can employ hundreds or even thousands of lawyers, the level of co-operation between counsel is low, he said. "Th rough most of the his- tory of law, we've been mostly a collection of sole practitio- ners operating under the same roof," he noted. Letalik blames that history on the skepticism bred into lawyers rewarded for identifying every pitfall that could possibly occur in a deal. "When you get into a law fi rm environment, you fi nd that clients actually want opti- mists who can fi nd them solu- tions, not someone who can point out all the fl aws in their plan," he said. "In order to drag us in that direction, we need to get people to work together collaboratively." Letalik added that global lawyers must learn to think more expansively by advising clients on what they should do rather than what they can do. Th at can be diffi cult when many of them operate in a very narrow area of practice. "Th e practice of law has gotten into a conundrum," he said. "We force people to specialize very early. At some stage, clients want a trusted adviser who sees the big picture, so we can't force people into pigeonholes." As the number of trans- national deals increases, op- portunities will also open up for international litigation, according to Letalik, who noted many fi rms include ar- bitration clauses in contracts. "Th e amount of international arbitration is increasing expo- nentially. People want to avoid the local courts, and it's easier to get an arbitration award rec- ognized in another jurisdiction than it is to get a judgment in a court in a particular jurisdic- tion," he said. LT Parallel Importation Rose Ann MacGillivray A controversial subject touching on international trade policy, competition law and intellectual property rights This unique and comprehensive tool for identifying and litigating parallel import cases uses an unbiased, multi-disciplinary approach to exploring the tensions, issues and arguments. Use it to negotiate the boundaries of intellectual property, competition and international trade law. Parallel Importation incorporates both practical and theoretical perspectives. Key cases are summarized and discussed with reference to relevant legislation from Canada, the United States and the European Union. 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