Law Times

PAGE 12 FOCUS February 23, 2009 • Law Times Vineberg LLP; Osler Hoskin & Harcourt LLP; Stikeman Elliott LLP; and Torys LLP have work- ing offi ces where most of the lawyers staffi ng the offi ce are there full time. Torys and Osler practise Canadian and U.S. law, while Davies and Stikemans confi ne their New York prac- tices to Canadian law. Blake Cassels & Graydon LLP and Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP have "representative" offi c- es. These also involve a physical presence but the lawyers staffi ng these types of offi ces may be full time or part time, and most prac- tise Canadian law in conjunction with their marketing efforts. Torys has 46 lawyers in the Big Apple; Osler has 29; Davies has 16; Stikemans follows with 14, while FMC employs 11 law- yers and Blakes employs fi ve. Whatever form the Canadian Canadian firms taking bite out of Big Apple S BY JULIUS MELNITZER For Law Times ix Canadian fi rms have of- fi ces in New York. Davies Ward Phillips & Although it's certainly not business as usual and things could be described as grim, our strategy remains the same. We'll continue to serve our clients with legal work they require apart from transactions and deals. Hopefully, at some point, this will be behind us and normalcy will return. presence in the Big Apple takes, the fact remains that New York has got a bum rap these days. Lehman Brothers is bankrupt, Merrill Lynch and Bear Stearns no longer exist as independent entities, and American Interna- tional Group is for all intents and purposes in the hands of the U.S. government. The turmoil has of course seeped into the legal market. "There has been a tremendous slowdown in capital markets activ- ity and the IPO window is shut, with only one IPO in the works in North America," says William Gray of Torys' New York offi ce. To be sure, the news isn't all bad. "U.S. fi rms are very slow in M&A and corporate fi nance," says Berl Nadler of Davies, "But the fi rms who are involved in any aspect of the fallout from the fi nancial crisis — the Leh- man insolvency, the Wachovia takeover, or the situation at AIG, for example — are very busy. So are fi rms with hedge fund practices whose clients are knee deep in the new regula- tions on short selling, as well as debtor insolvency practices." But for Canadian fi rms with operations in New York, the per- spective is a little different than for their American brethren. To be sure, their experience in the current market is not uni- form. But representatives of the three law fi rms interviewed for this article were in agreement on one thing: because such a large component of their client base is Canadian, because the Canadian economy and fi nan- cial system does not appear to have been hit quite as hard by the crisis as its U.S. counterpart, and because the U.S. situation may present buying opportuni- ties for Canadians, the offi ces of law fi rms based in Canada are not experiencing the same vola- tility as some American fi rms and remain poised for the op- portunities that may arise. This having been said, the economic situation seems to be impacting on the various Cana- dian fi rms to different degrees. The largest of the fi rms inter- viewed, Torys, quite naturally seems the most exposed. "The core of our work, which is an M&A practice, is defi nitely in a distressed environment, and everyone's taking up their accoun- tant's pencil and cutting expens- es," Gray says. "At the same time we're bulking up on restructuring lawyers, just like everyone else." For his part, Nadler says, the fi rm's focused strategy has Insurance and Risk Management in Commercial Leases dampened the impact of the crisis. "We don't and never had a fi eld- of-dreams approach to the New York offi ce," he says. "It was built up on the strength of client de- mands and the need for services." Davies' strategy going for- ward is cautious. "I'd call it a wait-and-see strategy," Nadler says. "We've never expanded rapidly so that hasn't changed, but we are hir- ing lawyers out of law school and students." Phil Henderson of Stikemans quite candidly acknowledges what he calls the "turmoil," the "complete disruption," and the paucity of transactions with Ca- nadian components that would engage his fi rm. Yet the New York offi ce is busy. "The diffi culties have prompt- ed restructurings and unwindings that have Canadian elements or that involve Canadian clients, and I anticipate that kind of work will continue for some time," he says. While the work has changed, Stikemans' strategy has not. "We continue to focus on a cross-border practice staffed by Canadian lawyers, and so we don't hire U.S. lawyers," he says. "Although it's certainly not busi- ness as usual and things could be described as grim, our strategy re- mains the same. We'll continue to serve our clients with legal work they require apart from transac- tions and deals. Hopefully, at some point, this will be behind us and normalcy will return." Meanwhile, Gray sees a silver Finally, a resource that simplifies these complicated concepts lining for Canadian fi rms with New York offi ces. "One of the glimmers of light Insurance and risk management issues in the commercial leasing context are highly technical, interrelated and often misunderstood. 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