Lexpert magazine features articles and columns on developments in legal practice management, deals and lawsuits of interest in Canada, the law and business issues of interest to legal professionals and businesses that purchase legal services.
Issue link: https://digital.carswellmedia.com/i/1547047
www.canadianlawyermag.com 37 INSIGHTS As part of our editorial process, Canadian Lawyer's researchers interviewed the subject matter experts below for an analysis of this report and its findings. Hilary Young, PhD Professor and Acting Associate Dean UNB Faculty of Law Ian Hull, LSM Partner Hull & Hull LLP along concurrently with the skills they need, because we're never going to lose the advisor role. Where it used to be a matter of simply buying the tools and letting them do the work, the real leaders sit at the table and explain to their junior lawyers why it matters and how, with a tangible under- standing of it themselves. Q: How does mentorship or advocacy work translate into professional influ- ence, particularly for lawyers earlier in their careers? A: Technology, even before AI became this strong, can make people forget they're first and foremost advocating a position. The advocacy skills exercised at the senior level need to keep getting pushed down into mid-level and junior lawyers, and the true leaders across every sector make sure junior lawyers get real room to participate rather than just observe. That matters especially in human rights work, where the resources available in private-sector litiga- tion often aren't there, so bringing junior and mid-level lawyers into complex parts of a case counts for more. AI clears out the grunt work, which means we get to spend our time on what we're best at, advocacy and advice, because people still want to be advised by people. Q: What challenges will test Canada's legal leaders in the year ahead? A: The profession is growing and, happily, becoming more diverse, which brings new perspectives into every area of law. Twenty years ago, there were far fewer lawyers across Canada, and opening up the profession has genuinely enhanced how we understand different communities and the perspectives they bring to legal problems. At the same time, that growth keeps us honest, we need to stay focused on differentiating our positions in the marketplace and being sensible about the legal services we provide and what we charge for them. That's good for lawyers and for the profession both. Influence built, not inherited What connects this year's Top 25 isn't a shared practice area, it's a shared instinct to build, not simply practise. Ventresca rebuilt a firm's advancement structure. Ismail built a legal department from nothing. Pooran built a program no one else would fund. Brown spent a decade rebuilding the same bill five times instead of walking away from it. Ansari built a case designed to outlast her client's file. Saun- ders built the infrastructure an entire firm now runs on. Bowker has spent her career defining the limits collective litigation shouldn't cross. None of them treated influence as a title. They treated it as something built, tested, and rebuilt when the first version didn't hold. That's the throughline worth remem- bering long after this list is published. Influ- ence in Canadian law right now belongs to the people willing to do the unglamorous, structural work everyone else assumes someone else will handle. Hull, who served as a judge for this year's list, put it more simply: these are candidates who are "hardworking, decent, and focused," proof that old-fashioned effort still carries as much weight as any new technology. ABOUT THE SPONSOR Thomson Reuters is a leading provider of business information services. Its produc ts include highly specialized information-enabled software and tools for legal, tax, accounting, and compliance professionals combined with the world's most global news service – Reuters. CoCounsel Legal is Thomson Reuters' professional-grade AI solution, designed to support legal research, drafting, and document analysis within a single workflow. It is grounded in trusted Westlaw authority and Practical Law expertise, helping lawyers work faster while maintaining confidence in the quality and verifiability of their work. Phone: +1 416 687 7500 Website: thomsonreuters.ca