Working hand in handLaurie McFadden is a Canadian-born partner of Freshfields, one of the magic circle British firms. His contact with Canadian firms usually comes when they represent one party to a consortium, and Freshfields represents the consortium as a whole. “It is a regular feature to be feeding work to the Canadian firms. Where the firm is located depends on the case. If it’s just advice we need, we call the people we know in the London offices. Other cases may go directly to Toronto or other parts of Canada.”
Charles Russell LLP also works closely with firms in Canada, but prefers not to have exclusive relationships. “On a typical listing we work alongside the Canadian firm,” says Hopewell. “We handle the aspects of the U.K. listing and the due diligence is done by the Canadian lawyer for the company. If it benefits the client to use the local lawyers, we encourage that.”
Lawyers in demandLondon is also a good place for Canadian lawyers to sell their skills to prospective employers. International legal recruiter Jonathan Marsden says that in recent years he has been retained by Clifford Chance, Linklaters, Allen & Overy, Simmons & Simmons, and White and Case to co-ordinate their large-scale recruitment efforts in Canada. McFadden confirms that Freshfields also looks to Canada for good legal talent. Some recruits stay for only a few years, but take back a valuable compressed experience. “Freshfields offers concentrated exposure to deal after deal after deal,” he says.
In contrast to the magic circle and silver circle recruiting endeavours, the London-based Canadian firms admit to doing most of their recruiting in the U.K. and sending the Brits to Canada for short crash courses in Canadian law. “It’s hard to recruit good people to small firms in a city where there are so many options,” says Brant. “You need someone interested in a smaller office, someone entrepreneurial.”
It is not hard to get admitted in the U.K. if you are from a common law jurisdiction. There are only two exams to take, in ethics and accounting. “London is a melting pot of legal talent,” says Vowinckel. “If you hail from a common law country with sophisticated law schools, the legal education transposes easily. You’re trained in the basics.”
There is still a great deal of local knowledge to absorb. “Besides contract law — which was written by Lord Denning and friends — the legal regime is totally different,” advises Gourley. “You have to start from scratch and learn the European prospectus, the AIM role in the FSA (the Financial Security Authority, which regulates
providers of financial services in the U.K.), and the workings of takeover panels. You have to commit.”
Gourley came over in mid-August 2003 and worked hard to build up his contacts. “I already acted for one or two companies that had ties to Europe, and I continued to act for them. I got other introductions from the firm’s global mining group, which has a strong web of relationships in Europe. Eventually you bump into people in the capital business — nomads and brokers. It takes time to build a web, and you’ve got to do good work, or no one comes back.”
The London-based lawyers all agree that while there are differences in the work culture, generally the practice of law is Americanized, with the full use of technology. Certain courtesies are more prevalent, such as a desire for personal meetings rather than conference calls and more gentlemanly behaviour from lawyers. “One difference between European lawyers and North America lawyers is the perspective on business advice,” says Gourley.
“American and Canadian lawyers are very good at getting immersed in a firm and giving pragmatic, strategic business advice at the board level. A British client is surprised when they first see that sort of advice.”
Because of the time it takes to settle in (three years according to Brant) and to build up a web of contacts, the London offices of Canadian firms have changed their policy of rotating senior players for two- or five-year stints. They are now staying indefinitely, although at middle and junior levels there is still some rotation occurring.
Gourley says his umbilical cord to Canada has been cut and admits to being excited about the future. He expects his firm to expand by up to 30 lawyers in the next few years. “There has been phenomenal growth on the AIM, with substantial amounts of mining finance, and I bet the minute the mining economy collapses it will shift to high tech.”
Costs are highDespite the positive business forecast, Brant is not expecting other Canadian law firms to set up offices. “It’s such an expensive place to start up, with all the costs and connections. I’d be surprised if they contemplated it.” Instead he sees the larger Canadian firms nurturing relationships with well-placed British firms.
With a global outlook, a law firm can use London as a platform or an open door to work that need not have any local connection. “We have tended to take on areas that are international by definition, such as mining,” says Vowinckel. “Our London office is well-positioned to take on mining projects with no connection to Canada.
Similarly, in offshore trust planning, we not only represent high net worth individuals going to and from Canada, but also South America and other countries.”
In fact, the Canadian lawyers interviewed regard themselves as global lawyers who happen to be based in London — taking advantage of its magnet-like ability to attract liquidity and make all deals seem possible.
