Law Times

Law Times • November 17, 2008 NEWS Blakes celebrates 10 years in China BY JULIUS MELNITZER For Law Times Cassels & Graydon LLP will this week be celebrating the success of their journey to a place where Canadian law firms, through bit- ter experience, are now decidedly reluctant to tread. W That place is China, and to- morrow (Nov. 18), the firm is cel- ebrating the 10th anniversary of the opening of its office in Beijing. When Blakes made the move in 1998, the decision to establish a physical presence in China was certainly against the grain: of the nine Canadian firms who have had an office in China or Hong Kong — Blakes; Vancou- ver's Boughton Law Corpora- tion and Bull Housser & Tupper LLP; Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP; Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP; Goodmans LLP; Osler Hoskin & Harcourt LLP; Stikeman Elliott LLP; and Torys LLP (through its merger with New York's Haythe & Curley) — only Blakes' seven-lawyer office remains. International players like Denton Wilde Sapte and Cra- vath Swaine & Moore have also found China offices unprofit- able. Dewey Ballantine closed its Hong Kong office in the after- math of SARS, and even CMS Cameron McKenna has cut back to focus almost exclusively on insurance work. "Our strategy as conceived and implemented was all about generating work for our Cana- dian offices, which is why the Beijing office is not particularly large," says Blakes' managing hile it's no longer ex- actly where angels fear to tread, Blake partner Rob Granatstein. Blakes also boasts a Shang- hai office as part of a joint ven- ture with three Midwestern American firms — Michael Best & Friedrich LLP, with 350-plus lawyers based in Milwaukee; Armstrong Teas- dale LLP, with more than 250 lawyers based in St. Louis; and Butzel Long, with more than 200 lawyers based in Detroit. The group calls itself the Chi- na Alliance and the firms have just renewed their relationship for another three years. "The China Alliance grows out of the firms' common membership in Lex Mundi [an international law firm network]," Granatstein says. Despite the success of the venture, Blakes' China strat- egy hasn't played out exactly as imagined. "We thought most of the work would be for Canadian business investing in China, and we did get a meaningful stream of that kind of work, but because of the con- servatism of Canadian business and the cooling of government re- lations between the two countries, it wasn't quite what we expected," Granatstein says. "On the other hand, we had a much stronger stream of incoming work, much of it focused in the resource sector, where China has invested heavily." Robert Kwauk manages the Beijing office and is Blakes' point man in China. A Chinese- Canadian, Kwauk was born and raised in Vancouver, and speaks Mandarin and Cantonese. He taught economics and finance in 1990 at a university in Xian, located in Shaanxi province. While articling at Bennett Jones in 1993, he spent six months taking more initiative than they learned to exercise in the autocratic-minded Chinese firms from which they tend- ed to come," Kwauk says. "A solid foundation of this kind is essential because there isn't that much time for training in a small office." Even, it seems, when there isn't much work. It took the Beijing office five years to break even. "There was no break- Blakes' managing partner Rob Granat- stein says the firm will continue to grow China operations. seconded to a Taipei firm. Kwauk set up Blake's Beijing office from scratch. It took him the better part of a year. "There were so many issues around get- ting regulatory paperwork in place and registrations for our operation and our personnel," he recalls. Meanwhile, costs mounted. "Expenses, especially rent, travel, and promotional expenses, are very high in China," Kwauk says. Because Blakes decided that its office would also boast Chinese- trained lawyers, finding and hiring the right people was also a chal- lenge. From Kwauk's perspective, the "right people" meant individu- als whose knowledge of Chinese law, writing, and drafting skills in Chinese, and command of Eng- lish, were all excellent. "They also had to be open- minded so they could adapt to the culture of our clients, which to a great degree means Where the boys weren't BY JEFFREY WAUGH Law Times Osgoode director Giuseppina D'Agostino referred to as the "power women of IP law." Only four men turned up to hear about the issues being faced by women practising in the field. That's out of an estimated 45 people in atten- O dance at the event, which was organized by IP Osgoode and held at the downtown Toronto of- fice of Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP. Among those four was Rex Shoyama, as- sistant director of the recently inaugurated in- tellectual property centre, who spoke to Law Times about the importance of being present to learn about the challenges being faced in strik- ing the appropriate balance. "In many respects, it was kind of an eye-open- ing experience for me as well, to hear all of these things," says Shoyama. "And that's probably one of the things that's key; first and foremost is just to get men in there to listen to all of this." Secondly, says Shoyama, is discovering ways of getting men involved and contributing. He says there are some valuable take-away points to be garnered from these sessions that would help in the struggle towards ensuring diversity in the workplace. "Even something like just being there to hear these things and get those thoughts going through the mind is pretty key," says Shoyama. The panel, which was assembled to present views from women involved in IP law over five ne thing was strikingly obvious to attend- ees of a recent roundtable made up of members of the legal profession whom IP sectors (private practice, academia, industry, gov- ernment, and the judiciary), described many of their personal experiences. They included every- thing from dressing in a less feminine manner; gaining respect from students in the classroom; to missing out on opportunities stemming from passing up afternoon golf games. Do those lost opportunities translate into a loss of client files? wondered panellist San- geetha Punniyamoorthy, associate with the in- tellectual property boutique firm of Dimock Stratton LLP. Not for her, she said, but then left it open to debate on whether or not it results in increased years to reach partnership. Professor Carys Craig with Osgoode Hall Law School and Virginia Jones with the Canadian Mo- tion Picture Distributors Association both spoke of the additional struggles that came with being in the workforce at such a young age. "I think the reality is, that as a female profes- sor, the perception of competence, of intellect, of authority, doesn't simply come along with the posi- tion that you occupy as it may be assumed to do for a professor who more readily fits the professorial mold," said Craig, who began teaching at Osgoode at the age of 24, something she was able to accom- plish after going through the Scottish system where one enters law school directly after high school. "It has to rather be earned and proved." "The broad range of perspectives we got from the panel was particularly good," says Shoyama. "It was a great way to get unique perspectives from a variety of folks." Both Shoyama and D'Agostino say they hope to see the women and IP law roundtable become an annual event. LT www.lawtimesnews.com ntitled-1 1 11/13/08 9:06:20 AM through, everything came gradually," Kwauk says. "We had to spend a great deal of time advertising, developing seminars, and forming rela- tionships with local firms." A primary goal has been to get in touch with decision mak- ers. "That's a serious challenge in China, because you often don't know who the decision maker is," Kwauk says. "A firm has to let itself be known in the industries it is targeting and must ensure that its particular expertise stands out." Kwauk, who works tirelessly to that end, credits his partners for their contribution to the growth of the China operation. "The Beijing office is part of what we call our China Initia- tive, but it doesn't represent all of the resources we have thrown at China," Kwauk says. "Each of our other offices has a senior lawyer co-ordinating our China project. This isn't a mid-level person. It's a person with clout." The structure means that there are established lines of communication and promotion of the China practice within the firm. When Kwauk has a ques- tion he can't answer about doing business in Canada, he has the name of a partner back home (or even in the U.S., at the firm's Chicago office) with the author- ity to produce a quick answer. The structure also means that referrals from Beijing don't get lost in the shuffle of Canada's sixth-largest firm. The plan has worked. The Beijing office has been profitable since 2003. "Commitment from manage- ment and from partners who are not part of management is what did it," Kwauk says. "They all sup- port the Beijing office by referring clients and being responsive to in- quiries from China, which really helps with business development." Andrew Pollock, who spent four years in the Beijing office be- fore returning to Toronto about a year ago, had the same experience. "Blakes has done well in China because there is a sys- temic commitment from all its other offices," he says. The billings to support the operation include fees from some 150 Canadian companies with interests in China. The Beijing office's clients have also included a number of Indian pharmaceuticals and Korean construction firms. The firm represented China MinMetals Corp. in its aborted attempt to purchase Noranda, and also rep- resented China Petroleum and Petrochemical Corp., another major Chinese oil company, when it paid $120 million for 40 per cent of the Northern Lights oil sands projects. Success has also brought new problems, such as retaining staff. "After three or four years with a Western firm, the abil- ity of Chinese lawyers to deal with foreign clients makes them very desirable, so we pay them very well," Kwauk says. "We also try to make our Chinese lawyers feel at home in the firm by bringing them to Canada as frequently as possible to attend retreats, meet clients and staff, and absorb the Blakes culture." As for the future, Granatstein says the firm will continue to grow its China operations, and the Chi- na Alliance is currently looking at the possibility of opening an office in Shenzhen, located the southern province of Guangdong. Meanwhile, there's a dim sum brunch on for all Blakes' staff this week, as well as a dinner for the China team. LT Start off the holiday season on a high note. Join your legal industry friends and colleagues for an evening of cocktails, conversation and good cheer at the Rosewater Supper Club. Our holiday networking social will feature cocktails, hors d'oeuvres and prizes at one of Toronto's finest dining spots. PAGE 5 TORONTO CHAPTER WINTER SOCIAL EVENT Date: Tuesday, December 2, 2008 Time: 5:30pm – 7:30pm Address: 19 Toronto Street RSVP: events.toronto@legalmarketing.org Please note there is a $25.00 registration fee for non-members, payable at the door by cash, cheque, Visa or Mastercard. Special thanks to our generous sponsor for this event:

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