Law Times

Law Times • June 15, 2009 NEWS PAGE 5 Blakes ahead of curve on Third Industrial Revolution Richard Corley is leading Blakes' work on the Third Industrial Revolution. BY ROBERT TODD Law Times T Th ird he Toronto offi ce of Blake Cassels & Gray- don LLP is at the centre of Canada's eff ort to prepare the government, business, and legal sectors for the next stage in glob- al economic history, dubbed the Th ird Industrial Revolution. Th e fi rm recently hosted the Industrial Revolution: Canadian Executive Round- table Meeting, which brought together lawyers, executives, politicians, and members of the non-profi t communities from across North America. Th ey dis- cussed the challenges facing the globe, brought on by the world- wide recession, climate change and energy security needs, and considered ways to implement the post-carbon economy. Th e Th ird Industrial Revolu- tion was introduced by Jeremy Rifkin, who is a fellow of the Wharton School's executive ed- ucation program and president of the Foundation on Econom- ic Trends. Th e European Parlia- ment, European Commission, European Council, and business leaders across the globe already have endorsed the initiative. A Th ird Industrial Revolution Global CEO Business Round- table, made up of European and American representatives, came together in Washington, D.C., last October. Th e meeting hosted by Blakes aimed to get the ball rolling towards implementa- tion in Canada. Attendees heard from high- profi le speakers such as Ontario's Deputy Premier and Minister of Energy and Infrastructure George Smitherman, Rifkin, Blakes partner Sharon Wong, Ontario Power Authority vice president of conservation Paul Shervill, and Keith Stewart of the World Wildlife Fund's cli- mate change program. Also at the meeting, a set of working groups was created to give structure to the imple- mentation of the plan. Blakes partner Richard Cor- ley, a member of the fi rm's CleanTech group who is leading its work on the Th ird Industrial Revolution, says the initiative is "critical to the future" and that the law will play a major role. "It is a mix of law and policy and business and other elements, [but] everything that needs to be done in order to implement the Th ird Industrial Revolution does require legal change, does require legal work, will require contracting, will requiring re- defi nition of values of carbon, and the deeply reaching impli- cations of that are such that it's going to have legal ramifi cations for our clients and for our prac- tice going into the future that I think most people don't really appreciate," says Corley. He says the initiative re- ally deals with "future legal problems." "It's everything from measur- ing and reporting on your green- house gas emissions to managing those to contracting," he says. Corley notes that Blakes' in- volvement in the initiative is a bit ahead of the curve in terms of dealing with straight-up legal aspects of the revolution. "It is really part of our fi rm's thought-leadership in the area of CleanTech and climate change and the legal and busi- ness responses to this, which we see as really being very much a defi ning issue for business," he says. "And in particular in Can- ada because we are, as a coun- try, so far behind the curve that we have a tremendous amount of catch-up to do here, relative to Europeans and many other countries around the world." Corley says Blakes is rec- ognized for its "broader social contributions," in areas such as its pro bono awards, and has re- ceived kudos as a top employer. Th e fi rm also has an internal initiative to green and reduce its carbon footprint. "Th is is really part of a com- prehensive approach to address- ing the broader implications of the climate change issue, as a fi rm, assisting our clients to un- derstand and address it from both a legal and a business perspective, and providing something of a fo- rum for the leaders in the various industries that are implicated by the Th ird Industrial Revolution to get together and to really work eff ectively," he says. Corley says he interviewed Rifkin about the Th ird Indus- trial Revolution over a year ago, and their thoughts on the issues were similar. He says the initiative is rela- tively future-oriented, but notes that it is more immediate than some might think, with Europe- an plans set to come into eff ect in fi ve to 10 years. He says there is a "tremendous amount of momentum" through- out the world toward both the pricing, measurement, and man- agement of carbon and the use of alternative technologies. Ontario's Green Energy Act, for example, ties into the Th ird Industrial Revolution model, notes Corley. "It's a piece of legislation which is highly compatible with the four towers" of the revolution, he says. Corley says the meeting was The was recently amended to significantly change how human rights are protected, promoted and enforced in Ontario. Enforcing Human Rights in Ontario is the first book to outline how the new human rights system works, written by lawyers renowned for their experience in the area. Written in a practical, how-to format, it provides: • the history of the reform • the wide-ranging changes from the old to the new system – including the changed roles of the Human Rights Commission, Human Rights Tribunal and an overview of the new Human Rights Legal Support Centre • the new role of the courts in enforcing human rights "fabulous," attracting a higher- than-expected 80 attendees from across North America. 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