Law Times

PAGE 4 JUNE 30 - JULY 7, 2008 / LAW TIMES New insurance litigation boutique pops up in Toronto A BY ROBERT TODD Law Times new firm will pop up Wednesday in Toronto's financial district with a de- cidedly bold goal: become the best shop of its kind in the country. And while the 12 lawyers — including seven who formerly made up the insurance litigation practice at Cassels Brock & Black- well LLP — at Thomas Gold Pet- tingill LLP are likely feeling the queasiness that comes with break- ing out on your own, they're well positioned to hit their target. "We're all very optimistic this thing is going to take off," says founding partner Ian Gold. "I think it will be one of those things that we'll of course turn around and say, 'Why didn't we do this five years ago?'" It doesn't hurt that the seven former Cassels Brock partners — Bruce Thomas, Ian Gold, Alex Pettingill, D'Arcy McGoey, Chris Schnarr, Nadine Nasr, and Tom Donnelly — have amassed a com- bined 115 years of experience. They plan to focus their practices on "complex, sophisticated, large exposure matters, including com- mercial coverage matters, D&O, and E&O issues," and will be bringing along all their Cassels Brock clients and files, says Gold. Gold notes that the move is rare in that Cassels Brock has given its blessings to the lawyers' depar- ture. Since January, when the de- cision was announced, the group has had the luxury of preparing for the move without sneaking around anyone's back. They've even been able to use the Cassels Brock boardroom and conduct interviews at the firm, says Gold. "People love to gossip in the be any confusion amongst our col- leagues or amongst our clients." Cassels Brock managing part- ner Mark Young says it was clear that the insurance litigation group no longer fit into the firm's stra- tegic plan. He says the firm has gradually exited the field. "The reality of that practice area is that it's a narrow kind of band of work," says Young. "It doesn't lend itself into a lot of cross-selling into other areas of a full-service law firm." Young says he's happy to see legal industry, as I guess they do in any industry," he says. "So we went out loud and proud with the details . . . We didn't want there to the lawyers "off and running," and adds that the transition peri- od of the past several months has been smooth. The biggest point of contention, he quips, was whether one lawyer could bring an office plant with them. "They're a great group of part- ners. From a personal perspective, it's quite sad to see them go, be- Women could have majority on top court Continued from page 1 a registered charity which issues tax receipts to donors, focuses its studies of Supreme Court justices on s. 2 and s. 15 protection of fun- damental freedoms and on economic rights, and has not analyzed their rulings under s. 7 legal rights. He and McLean acknowledge in the Bastarache report that the analysis "necessarily reflects the judgment of the authors" and that they avoided divisive issues such as "whether or not the state has a legitimate role in restricting pornography or prostitution." Among the cases where they praised Bastarache for siding with the "pro-freedom" majority was Thomson Newspapers Co. v. Canada, where the majority held it was unconstitutional to ban the broadcasting or publication of public opinion polls in the final three days before a federal election. An example of an "anti-freedom" ruling was a majority deci- sion in Canadian Egg Marketing Agency v. Richardson that the marketing board did not violate s. 6 on the basis of residency. Meanwhile, the name of Justice Margaret Cameron, of the New- foundland and Labrador Court of Appeal, surfaced late last week as a strong candidate for the government's choice to replace Bastarache. St. John's counsel Sheila Greene, president of the Law Society of Newfoundland and Labrador, tells Law Times Cameron would be a good selection if the Harper government decides to appoint a Supreme Court justice from the province for the first time since it joined Confederation in 1949. Greene describes Cameron as "dedicated, hardworking, with a very even judicial temper." She says Cameron has worked col- legially with the chief justice of the appeal court, former New- foundland premier Clyde Wells. Wells demonstrated his keen sense of constitutional legalities when he denied the legislative assembly vote in 1990 that led to the demise of former prime minister Brian Mulroney's Meech Lake con- stitutional accord, and is unlikely to be selected to fill the Bastarache vacancy despite his razor-sharp legal mind. Only Quebec is guaranteed a fixed number of Supreme Court po- sitions, three, under the Constitution, but for decades the convention has been one justice from the Atlantic region, two from the western provinces, and three from Ontario. Joel Pink, president of the Nova Scotia Barristers' Society, agreed Cameron is a leading candidate, noting that her name played prominently when Bastarache was selected from the New Brunswick Court of Appeal in 1997. Pink, however, said gender should not be the decisive factor. LT cause they're really nice people to have around," he says. Gold — who served on Cassels Brock's executive committee be- fore the move was announced — says the insurance litigation group had pondered the idea of breaking off for the past two or three years. "They really want to do cor- porate transactional work," says Gold. "I really believe the role of a litigator [at Cassels Brock] will be to serve in a supportive role, in the sense that they will be here to service corporate clients that occa- sionally have litigation needs." The litigation group has gen- erated "99 per cent" of its own clients while at Cassels Brock, rather than internal referrals, says Gold. "Our strategic plan is to grow that practice," he says. "Cassels Brock didn't really want us to grow that practice. They were happy enough to have us maintain it, and we want to be a firm where the strategic plan is to be a top-notch litigation firm, and the pre-eminent insurance firm in the country. "I don't want to make it sound adversarial, because it's not, or too much at odds, but the strategic plans were just different for the group of people that I was leaving with and Cassels' strategic plan," says Gold, noting that he expects both firms will swap referrals. The move also is partially moti- vated by the spectre of internal con- flicts that often arise with corporate clients, he says. Thomas Gold Pet- tingill expects to draw work from full-service firms that are turned off by the poaching potential of send- ing clients to competitors for insur- ance work, says Gold. While jitters are to be expect- ed, Gold says any consternation regarding the move was settled before it was announced. "The sleepless nights happened in the months or weeks leading up to the decision to make the move," he says, adding that all of the de- parting Cassels Brock partners had been at the firm at least eight years, and Thomas, the most se- nior, had been there for 30 years. Gold says the question was, "Do you leave a place that you like, and are very comfortable and well compensated, to start this new venture? . . . Once that deci- sion was made, I can tell you that I slept a lot better." The group has since focused its attention on the administrative minutiae of the shift — migrating data to the new firm's computer system, the office move, finances, personnel, and so on, says Gold. While the group is confident their new firm will succeed, Gold is aware that changes — he rejects the unsavory term "challenges" — lay ahead. The former Cassels Brock lawyers will have to adjust to life without some of the com- forts that come with practising at a major firm, and will have to con- front issues that occasionally can be avoided at a larger firm, he says. Some personnel issues must still be worked out at Thomas Gold Pettingill, which will be located at 150 York St. in Toronto. Two Cassels Brock associates will come along, and three additional lawyers have been hired. Gold says the firm hopes to add at least one senior as- sociate soon and they hope to grow to about 18 lawyers. LT www.lawtimesnews.com

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