Law Times

PAGE 16 MAY 26, 2008 / LAW TIMES There are 'some pretty good lawyers up here' Eye On Northeastern Ontario BY DEREK HILL For Law Times E daunting task. The region is huge, with both international and inter- provincial borders. It contains six cities and numerous towns of various sizes, whose economies — which are often based on mining or forestry, etc. — are in varying states of boom or bust. The region's peo- ples come from different cultures and speak multiple languages. As for its lawyers, they are simi- ncapsulating the practice of law in northeastern Ontario in one story is a cruel and larly diverse, much like lawyers in the rest of the province. "Northern Ontario is some- times perceived a little bit differ- ently by the south," says Claude Lacroix, of Lacroix Forest LLP, in Sudbury. "There's no real differ- ence, except for the fact some of us have chosen a bit of a different lifestyle and a bit of a different way of approaching practice." "I think it's always a surprise to counsel from southern Ontario who come up here for the first time that there are some pretty good lawyers up here," says James Wallbridge, of Wallbridge Wall- bridge, a litigation firm with mul- tiple offices in the region. Of the region's population of 500,000, two-thirds of them live in its six cities: Greater Sud- bury (170,000); Sault Ste. Marie (70,000); North Bay (60,000); Timmins (40,000); Elliott Lake (12,000); and Temiskaming Shores (11,000). The rest live in smaller towns such as Chapleau, Hearst, Iroquois Falls, etc. — there are sim- ply too many to mention. The nature of the cities var- ies nearly as much as their size. For example, Sudbury can be described as a nickel-mining town; Sault Ste. Marie as a steel town/border town; North Bay as a government/railway town; Timmins as a gold town; Elliott Lake as a former uranium town. Then there's Temiskaming Shores, which is more of a tourist town/ border town, perched on the other side of the province on the Quebec border. To further confuse things, northeastern Ontario as a whole is 25 per cent French, starting from a very low percentage of franco- phones in the west, near Sault Ste. Marie, and building to 30 per cent in Sudbury, with a higher percent- age following the Quebec border, which cuts west from Ottawa and swoops its way north up to the southernmost tip of James Bay. And that's not to mention the significant population of First Na- tions peoples scattered throughout the region. It's a long introduction, to be sure; but all of it is important to understanding the practice of law in northeastern Ontario. northeastern Ontario lawyer? "Northern Ontario's a bit of a bastion of the small practitioner," says James Simmons, of Weaver Simmons LLP, when asked to de- scribe the legal scene in northeast- ern Ontario. Smaller firms and sole practitioners dot the land- scape of the region. His firm, with its 30 lawyers, is the largest in the region. There is Who, then, is the typical a sharp drop-off to the mid-teens for the next largest firms, which include, but are not limited to, the following: Miller Maki LLP; Des- marais Keenan LLP; Lacroix Forest LLP; Wallace Klein Partners in Law LLP; Evans Bragagnolo & Sullivan LLP; and Wishart Law Firm. As for the legal work being of mining companies, includ- ing DeBeers Canada and Xstrata Canada Inc. He adds that the for- est industry in Sudbury was kind of flat recently, which has affected Timmins, Chapleau, and more northern towns. With respect to commercial performed, using Sudbury as an example, Simmons says it's fair to say legal work there is typical for an Ontario city, but with a higher proportion of mining-related or forestry-related work, particularly for the larger firms. "Not much mergers and ac- quisitions," he says, laughing. "Or securities work." As a further illustration, his firm, which does litigation work throughout the north and cor- porate work, acts for a number have the client base to do it? And have you got a client base who are going to consider working with a firm in northeastern Ontario as opposed to automatically going to a firm in southern Ontario?" * * * work, Lacroix notes that the trend of some of the larger centres to go "a little bit boutique" was something that had been explored in northeast- ern Ontario for a long time. "We're often surprised when people ask us, 'Well, who do you deal with over here?' And we say, ' Almost nobody. We deal primar- ily with Toronto counsel with the issues that we have.' "You tend over a period of time to sort of harvest a number of law- yers who either develop a specialty, or who really are prepared to do more than just the mom and pop, 'I'm going to do everything under the sun and be a one-man shop' . . . You've got people who can do a lot of things. "The more challenging aspect has been: Can you offer more than just the general solicitor's service, or general litigation service, to cli- ents in northern Ontario? Do you Our Firm's Practice Groups provide a full range of legal services throughout Sudbury and Northeastern Ontario, including Personal Injury, Accident Benefi ts, Civil Litigation, Real Estate, Business Law, Tax Law, Labour & Employment Law, Occupational Health & Safety Law, Mining Law, Aboriginal Law, Family Law and Criminal Law. Our Firm's Practice Groups provide a full range of legal services throughout Sudbury and Northeastern Ontario, including Personal Injury, Accident Benefits, Civil Litigation, Real Estate, Business Law, Tax Law, Labour & Employment Law, Occupational Health & Safety Law, Mining Law, Aboriginal Law, Family Law and Criminal Law James C. Simmons, Q.C. P. Berk Keaney* Louis H. Sola Steve S. Moutsatsos Daniel C. Sirois Linda Laakso Michael J.N. Haraschuk Sotheary Khiev Brian L. Montgomery Matti E. Mottonen** Peter J. Archambault Geoff Jeffery R. Martin Bayer Kathleen Stokes P. Peter Diavolitsis John Recoskie *Certified by the Law Society of Upper Canada as a Specialist in Criminal Law. Harold P. Beaudry, Q.C. Stevens D. Horton Douglas J. Los Boris J. Fesyk Stephen Vrbanac Marc A.J. Huneault R.W. Howard Lightle Paul A. Lefebvre Jennifer J. Desbiens William R. Bonham **Certified by the Law Society of Upper Canada as a Specialist in Family Law. Associated As Counsel Bill T. Rolston, Q.C. Gerard E. McAndrew Fax: 674.9948; Website: www.weaversimmons.com Chapleau Office 705.864.1505 Brady Square, 233 Brady St, Sudbury. . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . 705.674.6421 705.674.6421 Weaver_LT_May26_08.indd 1 www.lawtimesnews.com 5/22/08 3:00:33 PM allbridge_LT_May26_08.indd 1 R. A. Sullivan, Q.C Jack Braithwaite Law Firm LLP in Sault Ste. Marie says his firm undertook just such an analysis out of necessity. Sault Ste. Marie had been economically stressed for 15 years before 2002 as the fortunes of steel changed from the late 1970s, which forced his firm to question where they want- ed to go in the future, because the immediate economy around them was shrinking. "We looked at trying to change our client bulk, increase our skills in certain predetermined and tar- geted areas, and go and market our skills on a larger geographical area . . . to not stay dependent on Sault Ste. Marie." He says the firm planned and made a transition from being a primarily local-services firm to a long-distance firm. He mentions inbound immigration law for business clients needing foreign workers as an example of an area Gordon Acton of Wishart 5/20/08 3:54:00 PM

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