With the largest provincial bar in the country, Ontario’s law firms are as diverse as the community of lawyers who comprise them.
Five firms, varying in size, location and specialty, open their doors to share with us their unique working culture, and how that culture is intertwined with the strength of their local community.
Barriston Law LLP
Barrie, Haliburton
How would you describe your firm culture, and how does it affect what you do?
The firm culture at Barriston is grounded in respect, collegiality and team work. Our mission statement reminds us that we are a team that strives to exceed our clients’ expectations. We value client, employee and community relationships and the delivery of service excellence and expertise, while maintaining and fostering work/life balance.
Leading law firms require great people at all levels. We believe that we have a dedicated team because of the shared belief in our values, our commitment to our staff and the collegial working environment that we foster every day. Our lawyers are hard-working and driven to perform, but we believe that it is important to enjoy what you are doing and to take the time to appreciate the efforts of staff and colleagues. We celebrate our successes, participate in regular social events and make concerted efforts to recognize the immense contribution of our team on a regular basis.
How do you stay connected with your community?
Many of our lawyers are actively involved in service clubs and other volunteer organizations within the communities we serve including the Barrie region, Simcoe County and Muskoka. The firm sponsors many charitable fundraising events and projects providing support to local interests and beyond. These include support for our regional hospital here in Barrie, the MacLaren Art Centre, Hospice Simcoe, Gilda’s Club Barrie and many others. Broad staff participation in local fundraising events, local community groups and athletic organizations including support for children’s sporting organizations helps maintain community interaction.
What makes your firm unique?
We are located in the heart of Ontario close enough to Toronto to enjoy all that a large city offers while having immediate access to some of the best year round recreational areas in the province. We have a great mix of clients offering a significant amount of complex and rewarding work with excellent lifestyle opportunities. With the recent merger of two large firms in our area to create Barriston LLP, our talent pool is strong and has one of the top corporate / commercial law groups in the region with specialists certified by the Law Society in most practice areas.
How is your firm preparing for the future?
We have found more and more, that we are competing with the larger firms in Toronto for those sophisticated client relationships that provide challenging and fulfilling work. Our merger has created a regional firm that will continue to attract top talent and clients. By providing experience and expertise and creating tiers of service that can be geared to our clients` needs, resources and circumstances, it allows us to remain competitive. To accommodate our growth we are moving into a new, purpose built commercial space in the downtown core and have also expanded our presence in surrounding communities by opening three new offices to serve our clients’ needs in Bracebridge, Huntsville and Haliburton.
Perley-Robertson, Hill & McDougall
Ottawa
How would you describe your firm culture, and how does it affect what you do?
Perley-Robertson, Hill & McDougall have been providing leading services in the national capital region for over 40 years. During this time we have witnesses and participated in Ottawa’s growth, and we’ve been committed to our community’s’ business and charitable organizations. Our firm culture embodies our belief that our clients’ success and the success of the community in which we live and do business, is our success.
How do you stay connected with your community?
We are a community firm, and we have always placed a focus on supporting local not-for-profit groups in the national capital region. Our 40 plus year history as a law firm in Ottawa is matched by our 40 plus year history of supporting the hard-working and dedicated organizations that serve our community.
We encourage our lawyers and staff to volunteer and are proud of the leadership role so many in our firm have taken. Our lawyers serve as members of boards of directors and as officers of local groups.
We provide pro bono legal services to organizations and individuals would otherwise not have an opportunity to ensure that they obtain the best legal advice.
What makes your firm unique?
We try to deliver to our clients the highest possible standard of legal services in a cost effective way. Our success as a firm has been possible because of our disciplined adherence to this concept. We provide the highest quality representation by focusing on our clients’ needs, and understanding the big picture and long-term issues from our clients’ point of view. With our expertise and experience our clients can rely on, we provide clarity where issues seem complex and direction when decisions seem difficult. Focusing on clients means delivering efficient service, protecting our clients’ time and money.
We believe we can be more nimble and responsive than the multinational or national law firms while having the specialized resources of a large, full-service firm.
How is your firm preparing for the future?
In order to prepare for the future, our firm believes in a strong succession plan and building key practice areas with the most growth potential. We believe that a strong, cohesive team delivers superior service to our clients. Our continued commitment to client success has made us the largest and most successful independent law firm in the national capital region.
Mousseau DeLuca McPherson Prince LLP
Windsor
Richard Pollock, Richard Dinham, Tom Porter and Ilias Kiritsis (seated).
How would you describe your firm culture, and how does it affect what you do?
Mousseau DeLuca McPherson Prince LLP is one of the longest established law firms in Essex County with offices in Windsor and Lakeshore (Belle River) Ontario. The firm is currently comprised of four partners and nine associate lawyers providing a broad range of legal services. Our lawyers are encouraged to embrace volunteer work and community service as integral components of their professional practice. We are also involved with many non-profit and charitable organizations and, in addition to servicing private clients and companies, we provide legal services to the municipalities of Amherstburg and Windsor, to the Children’s Aid Society of the County of Essex and we are the local Agents for the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Department of Justice of Canada.
How do you stay connected with your community?
A review of our firm profile (mousseaulaw.com) details the extensive involvement of our lawyers in their community as well as their areas of preferred law practice.
What makes your firm unique?
We are a full service law firm with the unique capability of providing a wide array of services to individuals and private clients as well as governmental agencies and nonprofit organizations.
How is your firm preparing for the future?
We believe in and are committed to the articling process. We hire an articling student each year and many of our partners and associate lawyers are graduates of our articling program. As a matter of business strategy and succession planning, we implement policies that nurture our lawyers and encourage new partners. We support our staff and lawyers with new technologies and continuing education resources and we strive continually for an office environment that promotes good health, wellness and productivity.
Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP
Nationwide
How would you describe your firm culture, and how does it affect what you do?
Gowlings has almost 2,000 professionals and staff across 10 offices worldwide and I’m proud to say that a unified, collaborative culture lies at the heart of the firm. Our culture is shown in the work we do with each other and with our clients: we communicate openly with each other, we approach client problems with innovative team-based solutions, and we encourage individuals to flourish within a supportive environment. Our culture is clearly valued – for three consecutive years we have been ranked as one of the 50 Best Employers in Canada by Aon Hewitt. This ranking is based entirely on employee feedback, so it’s a sign we’re doing something right for our team.
How do you stay connected with your community?
At every level of our organization and across every office, our professionals and staff regularly donate their time and resources to a wide variety of social, health, community and legal causes. The firm supports this through a charitable giving program that allows for flexible work hours and the responsible use of office resources, staff expertise and time. Gowlings also provides pro bono legal services in communities across Canada to charities, community organizations and individuals who are marginalized or disadvantaged, and without means to obtain legal counsel.
What makes your firm unique?
At Gowlings, innovation is more than just a buzzword – it’s at the heart of everything we do. We take a novel approach to our client relationships and we’re always looking for better and more efficient ways to deliver our services. Our in-house IT Business Solutions team has developed a range of tools and systems to ensure our clients have access to our legal expertise whenever and wherever they need it. We also introduced a Leader of Innovation role last year to spearhead a number of client-centric initiatives, including advancements in our firm-wide knowledge management system, litigation support infrastructure and other projects designed to increase our efficiency in delivering high quality professional service.
How is your firm preparing for the future?
When Gordon Gowling was leading the firm in Ottawa in the 1930s, he recognized the need to look beyond the “here and now” and adapt to changing markets and technologies. What was true then still applies today. Twenty years ago Gowlings was at the forefront of an evolution towards “the national firm” in Canada, and we have already begun adapting to an increasingly borderless business landscape. Our firm has been working internationally for many years, nurturing relationships and building expertise that extend beyond our Canadian borders. Our international growth has been marked by a number of milestones, including the opening of Gowlings offices in Moscow, London and Beijing. We also have transactional experience in a number of key emerging markets, including Latin America and Africa, and extensive relationships and dealings with legal partners and clients in the United States.
Weaver, Simmons
Sudbury
How would you describe your firm culture, and how does it affect what you do?
Weaver, Simmons is the largest full service law firm in Northern Ontario. Based in Sudbury, it has been in operation since 1929. Weaver, Simmons enjoys and knows the North, operating from Kenora to the west, to Attawapiskat on James Bay, through to Ottawa and Kingston on the east and southerly to Barrie.
Although Weaver, Simmons is based in Sudbury, its practice groups operate at a provincial and national level, with strong departments in corporate/commercial law, civil litigation, criminal law, family law, labour/employment law, estate law, municipal law and aboriginal law.
With 30 lawyers, 5 students, paralegals and staff, there is a very strong working and social relationship. The working relationship bonds the different practice areas and many areas complement one another.
A second and equally important reason for the firm's success is the physical presence of its lawyers in the communities it services, no matter how remote. Notwithstanding the great distances travelled, travel throughout Northern Ontario is typically by car, or seasonally by floatplane. A premium is put on client contact and the firm believes that to service its' clients properly, lawyers need to go to where the clients are and become engaged in and be part of their communities.
The firm is reflective of the communities it serves and is fully bilingual and also offersservices in Ojibway.
How do you stay connected with your community?
The lawyers of the firm continue a long standing tradition of community engagement that includes sitting on university boards, hospital boards and a range of community organization boards. Active engagement in the community also extends to regular and enthusiastic participation in community sporting •events, entering teams in the annual dragon boat races, pond hockey tournaments, and curling tournaments. Most recently, the Weaver, Simmons pond hockey team placed first among over 18 teams in the corporate division of the 2013 Sudbury Pond Hockey Festival.
The lawyers at Weaver, Simmons have been and continue to be active in professional organizations, including The Advocate Society, Canadian Defence Lawyers Association and other professional affiliations. The majority of the lawyers practising at Weaver, Simmons are members of the CBA/OBA.
Mary Patricia Weaver, Q.C. (first female lawyer practising in Sudbury) remains in contact with the firm. She was an active member of OBA Council for years and a Bencher for many years before her retirement in 1996. Jack Braithwaite continues this tradition as a Bencher.
What makes your firm unique?
The lifestyle which the lawyers enjoy at Weaver, Simmons is not unique. It is available to everyone practicing in Northern Ontario. For lawyers who enjoy hard work and interesting legal challenges; and at the same time wish to cross-country ski, or kayak, or canoe in the morning, but be at work daily without time difficulties, Sudbury and the rest of Northern Ontario are wonderful places to practice a great profession.
How is your firm preparing for the future?
A considerable investment has been made in physical and technological infrastructure required to operate a modern law firm. The firm's library is generally equal to most County Court libraries. Adjoining the library is a lounge. Lawyers and students are encouraged to meet and become wiser at the end of the day or over a weekend, to discuss legal matters, in addition to the other range of topics available in lounges. (In recent years, due to changes in technology, the lounge sees more activity than the library.)