Law Times

PAGE 12 Lawyers do U-turn in leaving Crown for civil litigation Pair return to private bar with significant trial experience as prosecutors FOCUS BY KENNETH JACKSON For Law Times back and opened their own firm, it was like jumping off a cliff. The jump was with no para- I t was a leap when they went from civil litigation to work- ing as Crown attorneys, so when a pair of lawyers went chute, says Andrew Faith, 37, who along with Mark Polley, 44, opened Polley Faith LLP near the end of 2010 on Bay Street in Toronto. "Obviously, there' base working for the govern- ment," says Faith. "Then we jumped into civil s no client practice head first. Luckily, because of our good contacts . . . we were able to build a practice. We literally jumped off a cliff with no parachutes." They landed without losing point and asked him how was it at the Crown and Andy said, 'It' the best job you'll ever have.'" Faith made the move to the Crown's office in 2006. Polley s 'We literally jumped off a cliff with no parachutes,' says Andrew Faith. working at McCarthy Tétrault LLP in Toronto. That' Faith first met Polley, who acted as a mentor when he arrived at the firm in 2004. Polley had been there since 2001. "We were pretty close at s where their shirts and credit that to the contacts they made while McCarthys and he actually went first [to the Crown' Polley. "I called him up at one s office]," says followed soon after. They both worked out of the same office in Etobicoke. If they wanted trial experience, they certainly got it. They were provincial assis- tant Crown attorneys handling everything from fraud and sex- ual assaults to gun cases and murders. The only thing they didn't deal with was drugs. "We also covered youth cases for North York and Etobicoke," says Faith. "Our youth cases cov- ered the Jane and Finch area. It' sort of a very gritty law." s Crown," adds Polley. At the same time, they had a "It's a good place to be a lot of responsibility. "There isn't the sort of training period you get in civil litigation," says Faith. "If you're willing to do the trial, it doesn't matter how big the work, how complex the case. They're more than happy to let you do it. It' s just the volume of cases you deal with there." were ready to go back. But this time, they wanted their own firm as they thought they could capi- talize on their trial experience. "We spoke to so many peo- After about four years, they ple before we left who were all very encouraging, "We started with nothing, but it didn't discourage us because people were so encouraging so we decided to just do it." While at McCarthys, Polley " says Faith. regulatory matters, and defa- mation. He studied at Queen' focused on commercial liti- gation, professional University before receiving his law degree from the University of Windsor. He was called to the bar in 2001. As for Faith, he began his Reach one of the largest Canada! legal and business markets in liability, s career at Shearman & Sterling LLP in London, England, University and received his law degree from the University of British Columbia. He was called to the bar in 2003. Before they left the Crown' they spoke to a lot of 2003 with a focus on interna- tional arbitration and litigation. He first went to McGill in office, s people looking for advice. "We used to say we have two spe- cial corporate litigation background and the trial experience from the Crown. That was sort of our message we took with us when we started this," said Faith. They began with two law- things: we have the good yers — themselves — and one assistant. They have since added three lawyers and two support staff. "We're going fast, which is May 14, 2012 • Law TiMes great," says Polley. Polley was recently in the news after Toronto police charged Lizz Aston with assault. The victim identified Aston through her Facebook profile picture. It was a case of mistaken identity and wrongful arrest. Polley represented Aston and got the charge withdrawn on March 27. The lawyers even gave her a break on her bill. They cut what would have normally run her $8,000 to $3,000. "We knew that she would have a hard time paying our fees, but after hearing her story, we wanted to help, use our skills for an important cause. And Lizz seemed to be a tragic situation of someone wrongfully accused of a crime who needed our help. "It feels great to be able to " says Polley. running their own practice: the ability to choose the work they do that offers rewards beyond the financial concerns. "We did another case where That's one of the benefits of " we helped a family get OHIP to reverse its decision on funding a $500,000 treatment in New York for a five-year-old boy who had neuroblastoma, a rare and aggressive cancer, With more than 250,000 page views a month, canadianlawlist.com captures your market The all-new canadianlawlist.com features: — A fresh new look, designed for improved user experience — Effective new ways to reach the legal market — Gold and silver advertising packages For more information contact: Colleen Austin at 416-649-9327 or toll free at 1-800-387-5351 colleen.austin@thomsonreuters.com www.lawtimesnews.com CLL Web promo - CLL Dir..indd 1 12/8/11 10:58 AM and felt that it was one of the most important cases we had ever worked on. senting a non-profit organiza- tion in its bid to intervene in a Supreme Court of Canada case. Most of what they do, how- He notes they're also repre- " ever, is commercial litigation. "We are always working to make sure people know about our commercial litigation work," says Polley. "It is one of the many things we're trying to figure out as we grow this firm. But we do love the idea of building a top-level litigation boutique and then being able to use it in the right cases to help people who could otherwise not afford those legal services." LT "We did the work pro bono " says Polley. Online Print and in

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