The Chambers Canada team continues to work with law firms of all sizes, from small local boutique firms to large, full-service companies, to ensure that we train exceptional talent wherever they exist and provide them with unparalleled and much-needed knowledge. Blakes is also a member of the Advisory Board of TechLaw Group, a global network of law firms operating in more than 30 countries to promote the legal interests of clients operating in technology-related business areas. Thomson Reuters` 2022 Regional Law Firm Brand Index showed how the law firms in Canada and around the world that experienced the strongest growth in this year`s index have established themselves in the minds of clients in the areas of brand awareness and customer satisfaction. The regional index covers the legal markets of five different countries or regions – the United States, the United Kingdom, Continental Europe, Canada and the Asia-Pacific region. Each index is based on data compiled in 2021 from the Thomson Reuters Sharplegal study. This change is hardly surprising. As businesses move forward, hoping to return to a more normal state after the massive upheavals of the global pandemic, business risk itself is being redefined. This means that corporate clients are looking for external advice that has a broader perspective and specific strengths that can help clients navigate the still turbulent waters in 2022 and beyond. In addition, clients in Canada and elsewhere are looking for external law firms with a strong track record of quality results, efficient delivery and forward-thinking business solutions, according to the index. We constantly strive to work with all law firms to ensure that their partners and staff are involved in our research process, as diversity and inclusion are crucial in the legal market. For Canada`s top law firms, 2021 was the busiest year on record.
Law firms of all sizes and in all areas of law can rank in the guide to showcase their expertise and interact with buyers of legal services. The increase in work we have seen in Canada over the past year has also led to an increase in the participation of law firms in our research. Canada`s largest law firms, according to legal figures, have some things in common. They serve large companies that are often on the Fortune 500 and Fortune 100 lists, and sometimes even consult with governments. They are primarily based in Toronto, where the vast majority of business law is practiced, but their offices are spread all over the world, as most of their companies operate in more than one country. “For the law firms most valued by Canadian clients, previous differentiators from law firms, such as strong personal relationships, responsiveness and specialized legal knowledge, have declined as defining characteristics,” Jen Dezso, director, research and client relations, told Thomson Reuters. “Canadian clients are placing greater emphasis on the value of practical advice to businesses and the broader strength of lawyers – two elements mentioned more frequently in this year`s survey.” In Ontario, we have fundamentally improved our recognition of lawyers and law firms focused on mid-market real estate transactions. We have expanded our coverage of law firms, put digital tapes on the table for the first time and now also reward individual lawyers for their work in this area. Fasken LLP, one of Canada`s leading international litigation and commercial law firms, has more than 800 lawyers in ten offices on four continents. The firm`s offices are located across Canada, including Toronto, Calgary, Ottawa and Quebec City. The company has international offices in Paris and London, as well as offices in South Africa and China. Chambers Canada recognizes top legal talent at a number of provincial, national and international law firms based across the country to support those seeking the most appropriate legal service providers when it matters.
The Chambers Canada and chambers team remains committed to ensuring that our coverage of the ever-growing and evolving legal market across Canada reflects market realities and trends, as well as the needs of those seeking in-depth analysis and insight into the best law firms and lawyers across the country. Canada`s highly competitive legal market is home to a large number of full-service law firms. With a few exceptions, the “Seven Sisters” take the helm of the majority of complex, large-cap, business and financial transaction tracking transactions. These include Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP, Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP, Goodmans LLP, McCarthy Tétrault, Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP, Stikeman Elliott LLP and Torys. A selected international company with full-service offerings – such as Baker McKenzie, DLA Piper (Canada) LLP, Dentons, Gowling WLG and Norton Rose Fulbright – also operates in the country. Other key national players include the Bennett Jones LLP oil and gas plant; Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP and Fasken, which are characterized by mining companies; Borden Ladner Gervais LLP, which is primarily in demand for its experience in the energy sector; and Calgary`s Burnet Duckworth & Palmer LLP, a leading choice for Alberta-related issues. With thousands of lawyers at their jobs, Borden Ladner Gervais LLP is one of Canada`s leading law firms. This limited liability company (LLP) offers a variety of services to provide optimal results to each client. The company`s staff is almost exclusively bilingual.
For its efforts, BLG has been featured in numerous national and international legal publications. Before the global pandemic, it was a little easier to decipher what corporate clients expected from their law firms. Distinctive features such as strong personal relationships, a long-standing reputation and responsiveness have often been the key to securing clients` business for years. At the chambers methodology, our research analysts gather information about deposit-taking companies to learn more about their previous practices, services and work so that our rankings and analyses can reflect the strengths of Canada`s top law firms. Today, in Canada and around the world, these attributes are declining as defining characteristics for the law firms most preferred by clients. Instead, clients and purchasers of legal services – in Canada and elsewhere – place much more importance on the value of practical business advice and the broader strength of lawyers. The rest of the top 4 – McCarthy Tétrault in 2nd place; Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt (3); and Norton Rose Fulbright (4) – each used separate brand differentiators to secure its place in this market. And three other law firms – Toriess, Borden Ladner Gervais and Bennett Jones – showed that there is still room to climb the rankings of Canadian law firms, as they all finished strong in the index, each pursuing a strategy that combined a valuable understanding of clients` businesses with deep legal expertise.
As the index shows, these two factors are clearly the strongest combination that clients are looking for when navigating through new legal risks. In the minds of many clients, their external law firms should use all their skills to solve not only today`s legal challenges, but also those that clients may not have expected. In fact, customers rely on their legal partners to identify and resolve these invisible issues. External law firms – those that are truly proactive in their advice and innovative in their delivery – will continue to feel most favoured by Canadian corporate clients, according to the index. Since the beginning of the gradual reopening of the economy, law firms have become increasingly involved in major financial transactions and mergers and acquisitions that had slowed down at the beginning of the health crisis. In the first three months of 2021, M&A activity increased significantly due to encouraging financing conditions, with transactions reaching their highest level since 2016 in the third quarter of the year, as strong equity markets and low interest rates boosted transactions suspended due to the Covid-19 pandemic. While Canadian companies traditionally don`t share revenue numbers, law firm executives say their teams have “worked hard” in almost every practice area, but especially on the transaction side: private equity and mergers and acquisitions.