Law Times

Law Times • June 22, 2009 EYE ON EASTERN ONTARIO PAGE 13 Eastern Ontario lawyers stick close to home BY GLENN KAUTH Law Times I f you're going to practise law in eastern Ontario, be prepared to put a lot of ki- lometres on your car. "We find ourselves largely practising in Kingston. But you end up finding yourself travel- ling to Napanee . . . and occa- sionally Brockville," says Matt Hodgson of criminal law firm Hodgson Sinnett in Kingston. "Some lawyers are more willing to do it than others," he notes, adding the limits on legal aid in such circumstances can be particularly aggravat- ing. In his case, the problem is that legal aid rates are not only low but they don't pay for travel, he points out. Nevertheless, the city has few problems attracting law- yers. "Having a law school here certainly contributes to it," Hodgson says, referring to Queen's University. "There are a lot of lawyers. You do have to find the work. It's not the same size a market as To- ronto. If you're going to be your own employer, in order to do that, you have to work. Where there is a lot of lawyers, some- times that can be difficult." Nevertheless, Kingston seems to offer lots of opportu- nities to lawyers who go after it. A big help, for example, is the fact that as a government town, the economy has re- mained at least somewhat resil- ient. That's due in part to two of the institutions — one of them notorious — that Kings- ton is famous for. "You have a lot of prisons. You have a lot of schools," Hodgson notes. It is, in fact, a city that many lawyers return to after being away. One of them, Dan Cod- erre, moved back to his home- town after articling for one of the Seven Sisters, McCarthy Tétrault LLP. "Essentially, the opportunity arose, and I jumped on it," he says of his move to Soloway Wright LLP in Kingston, where he finds himself busy as a lawyer in the firm's business group dealing largely with commercial prop- erty transactions. One of the larger firms in the region with offices in both Kingston and Ottawa, Coderre says he ben- efits from the fact that he can pick up a lot of business from clients in the nation's capital. One of the few major firms in Kingston is Hicks Morley Hamilton Stewart Storie LLP, where Vince Panetta is a partner practising largely in labour and employment law. The office is nevertheless small, something Panetta says is a big plus. "I think it's quite frankly the best of both worlds. Having a small office, you tend to have greater exposure to clients. You tend to have greater name recognition as far as a law firm goes," he says, noting the Hicks Morley brand allows him to pick up some of the large institutional clients in Kingston. The city is, however, largely a place of small law firms of per- haps four or five lawyers as well as sole practitioners. That char- acterization is especially true in the smaller communities outside Kingston, of course. In nearby Gananoque, for example, Larry Steacy and Fred Delaney have been practising together since the 1970s. Like many towns, Gananoque has witnessed the disappearance of its manufac- turing industries, but the two partners say they've still kept themselves busy with family, criminal, and estates law. The cost of living is, of course, lower than elsewhere, but as Steacy points out, the need to travel is a challenge for lawyers. "We're not a county seat. It means that we have to travel to Kingston or Brockville if we're going to court," he says. Knowing clients more per- sonally is an advantage, but Delaney also notes it can be a downside when he meets three or four people on the way to the bank who want to talk business. The encounters are "not very billable," he says. Another lawyer who has made a long-term commit- ment to the area is Mary Jean McFall, a partner with Templeman Menninga LLP in Brockville. "I would say 95 per cent of the lawyers in this community grew up in this community," she says, count- ing herself as one of them. She returned to the city af- ter working for Osler Hoskin & Harcourt LLP in Toronto but now finds herself happily working in corporate and com- mercial law in her hometown, where her family runs Burn- brae Farms. "The bulk of your practice is made up of small businesses," she says, noting her primary competition for work is from firms in Ottawa. As in many places, per- sonal connections can make a big difference to a lawyer's practice. "The bulk of my work is by referrals," McFall points out, adding many of the people who come to her hope to avoid higher fees charged by bigger law firms from elsewhere. A downside, of course, is that working in a smaller cen- tre means McFall isn't as likely to get the large complex files she would at a national firm, but as she sits in her office overlooking the St. Lawrence River, she says the change was worth it. "It's a great place to raise kids. We were looking for the work-life balance." Recently, in fact, her firm had an articling student in the Brockville office, something McFall says is rare since few prospective lawyers are inter- ested in coming to smaller cen- tres. In fact, she notes the local bar is getting older, a trend that could lead to a dearth of prac- titioners — particularly on the solicitor side — as lawyers start to retire. "You don't see a lot of young commercial lawyers in small communities," she says. "In terms of demograph- say it's an older ics, I'd age group." Visit us online! canadianlawyermag.com lawtimesnews.com LT Fresh content delivered weekly. Canadian Lawyer Law Times 4Students InHouse House-Online_LT_Mar16_09.indd 1 3/11/09 2:45:27 PM With offi ces in Ottawa and Kingston, Soloway Wright LLP is one of Eastern Ontario's leading law fi rms, providing legal services in all areas of law to our local, national and international clients for over 60 years. Suite 900-427 Laurier Avenue West, Ottawa, Ontario K1R 7Y2 Telephone (613) 236-0111, Facsimile (613) 238-8507 e-mail: info@solowaywright.com www.solowaywright.com Suite 510-366 King Street East, Kingston, Ontario K7K 6Y3 Telephone 1-800-263-4257 Facsimile 1-800-263-4213 www.lawtimesnews.com

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• Review Process
• A Criminal Mind
• Focus On Family Law