Law Times

Law Times • November 26, 2012 Venture capital a growth area for lawyers I BY JULIUS MELNITZER For Law Times n September 2012, Canada's Venture tions in the previous 12 months as com- pared to the year before. That doesn't surprise Barry Reiter of Bennett Jones LLP's Toronto office. His Capital and Private Equity Asso- ciation announced there had been a 300-per-cent increase in transac- that in turn gave rise to a venture-capital industry that wasn't necessarily of a very high standard. tion governing labour-sponsored funds combined with the dot-com bust put an end to the gravy train. No one stepped in to fill the gap. "The VC industry shrunk in a large way when these funds disappeared," says Unfavourable changes to the legisla- " firm acted on more than 25 of those transactions. "I've been advising the technology, media, and telecom sector for over 30 years and there is truly some- thing special taking place in Canada right now, iter said at the time. " " Re- companies, smart inves- tors, and the opportunity to access high-quality lo- cal advisory and mentor- ship support have dra- matically changed the emerging company land- scape in Canada." Reiter points to the ex- A surge of great young Reiter. "Things were never as dire as some people made them out to be and good companies could still get funded. It' " that money was no longer available to the types of companies that should never have got funding in the first place. Still, the low point s just came between 2007 and 2011 when venture fund- ing was very limited. Then along came OMERS Ven- tures, which started to behave in ways that emu- lated U.S. venture funds. " ample of the $80 million raised by Desire2Learn. According to Thomson Reuters data, that was the largest-ever venture-capital investment in a Canadian soſtware company. To those following the venture- 'There is now a buzz and excite- ment around this industry that certainly didn't exist a few years ago,' says Barry Reiter. cycle until exit opportunities arise," says nal organizational goals, OMERS can wait on com- panies, staying with them through a long growth As long as the fund can achieve its inter- capital scene, it was no surprise that a major participant in the deal was OMERS Ventures, a division of the Ontario Municipal Employees Retire- ment System pension plan. OMERS has challenged the existing wisdom among Canadian institutional inves- tors by deciding to invest a meaningful stake in emerging knowledge-based Canadian companies. "OMERS has been a huge game- changer, having completed almost a dozen such investments in less than a year, gal advice on many of these transactions, including Desire2Learn. The sudden growth in venture-capital " says Reiter, whose firm provided le- transactions is the first really good news the sector has had in a long time. "In the late '90s, in the days of the "This allowed companies that weren't very good to access money easily and " says Reiter. labour-sponsored funds, there was an il- lusion that it was easy to build a company in this country, Reiter. It all augurs well for lawyers. "VC deals are not stunningly remunerative for law firms, but the promise lies in the expectation that these companies will get past the startup stage and do lots of other things," says Reiter. What Reiter calls the "traditional bronze medal mentality" no longer per- meates the venture-capital sector. "We now have a whole bunch of cli- "And while some part of the compa- ny's operations may be based in Canada, no one still believes that they have to be." As Reiter sees it, Canada's venture- " he says. water silo it might have been in the past. There is now a buzz and excitement around this industry that certainly didn't exist a few years ago. "Canadian VC is not the little back- " he says. " LT ents who believe that they can build large, successful companies that can hire the best people in the world, FOCUS PAGE 13 Law firm not afraid to cold-call other lawyers I BY JULIUS MELNITZER For Law Times law firm marketers, one Ontario firm has returned to fundamentals with an old-fash- ioned technique: the cold call. "We routinely make cold calls or e-mail lawyers who we believe could be helpful to our firm either by working together or through business referrals in either direc- tion," says Jon-David Giacomelli, who co- founded Cambridge LLP in 2010. The initial reaction, for the most part, is unsurprising and very lawyer-like. "We get many astonished responses from lawyers who can't fathom why they'd want to connect with a so-called competitor, but once we explain our partner in advocacy program to them, it engenders considerable interest and we've built many mutually ben- eficial relationships as a result," says Giaco- melli' vocacy program envisages Cambridge law- yers reaching out to firms that do legal work that' it turns out, that leaves a fairly large popula- tion Cambridge can reach out to. According to the firm' s different from its menu of services. As bridge has "developed a special focus and expertise in serving the legal interests and requirements of individuals, businesses, and governments on an international level. s web site, Cam- Not many small firms can make that claim, which includes an international legal ser- vices group that lists cross-border litigation and dispute resolution, cross-border corpo- rate and business law, international estates, privacy law, cross-border real estate, and im- migration services among its competencies. As it turns out, the firm' " lawyers came from the international legal services group at Ross & McBride LLP of Hamilton, Ont. They leſt to establish Cam- bridge' capital market has come of age. "I now find myself dealing with U.S. lawyers, banks, and financiers much more oſten than I used to, now also has facilities in Burlington, Ont., and Ottawa. In addition to international legal ser- s original office in Toronto. The firm vices, Cambridge also lists practice areas in business litigation and dispute resolution; estates, trusts, and wealth planning; immi- gration; real estate law; corporate legal ser- vices; and government relations. What be- comes apparent from browsing through the The Canadian aspect of the partner in ad- s colleague Chris MacLeod. n a high-tech era where concepts like social media, webcasts, podcasts, blogs, and a continuing stream of innovative techniques dominate the thinking of particulars, however, is that there's a definite international and cross-border flavour that permeates the firm. "The U.S. market represents about 50 per cent of our revenue," says Giacomelli. reaching out to U.S. lawyers and corporate counsel and doing a lot of speaking and writ- ing aimed at American bar associations." Typical retainers engage Canadian sub- "We built that practice by successfully sidiaries of U.S. companies, enforcement prosecutions and defences, and letters rogatory matters. Indeed, the U.S. bar has become so familiar with Cambridge and its connections south of the border that its lawyers have even received calls from U.S. lawyers asking for referrals to colleagues in that country. "We're committed to networking on ste- roids," says Giacomelli. "We can really connect people, some- thing that produces a great deal of goodwill because people are always happy to broaden their own networks." It took some time before the firm really applied this focused marketing mentality to the Canadian market that, aſter all, also contributes 50 per cent of its revenues. "We were getting our local files simply by being here and doing good work and then realized that we could build our Canadian practice and revenues by doing what we had been doing in the U.S.," says Giacomelli. Given the geographic proximity of the lo- cal market, however, cold-calling became an added weapon in the arsenal. "We actively solicit relationships us- ing one person to lead us to the next," says Giacomelli. Having connections in the United States s original six travel to the United States monthly on aver- age. "There' nadian market is just the beginning. "We're planning to invite lawyers we've LT hasn't hurt the Canadian marketing effort. "We've met thousands of U.S. lawyers and we tell our partners in advocacy about these U.S. contacts," says Giacomelli. "The upshot is that Cambridge has become a hub for con- necting Canadian and American lawyers." To that end, lawyers from Cambridge when you meet lawyers face-to-face," says Giacomelli. With that in mind, cold-calling in the Ca- cold-called to our offices on a regular basis simply to discuss ways of achieving com- mon objectives through new connections," says Giacomelli. INFORMATION PRIVACY AND DATA PROTECTION: COURSE HIGHLIGHTS • The Canadian Privacy Regime • Privacy Litigation • Access to Information • Privacy in the Cloud • Cross-Border Outsourcing of Data • Employee Privacy s a big uptick in referral business TECHNOLOGY, SECURITY AND CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY IN TODAY'S MARKETPLACE • Toronto, Dec. 6th, 2012 Canadian businesses are confronted with privacy risks on a daily basis. When technology creates new business models for database applications, privacy and security concerns are heightened. Integral to corporate responsibility is the need to deal ethically with employee and consumer information, and to protect it. Improper uses and security breaches are well publicized and not soon forgotten. Legislation continues to evolve as do the practices required to protect against breaches and maintain the integrity of data. An organization must act ethically and protect its records as a corporate responsibility not only to its individual stakeholders, but also itself. In today's business world, privacy and security concerns extend to social media, cross-border data transfers, cloud computing, records retention and access, and reputation management. Litigation risks for non- compliance and wrongful use are real. Addressing these concerns requires a focused understanding of the core issues involved. • Records Management • Social Media and Mobile Privacy Issues For more information or to register, please contact Lexpert® Events at 1-877-298-5868 or e-mail: register@lexpert.ca Untitled-1 1 www.lawtimesnews.com 12-11-20 10:13 AM

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