40 LEXPERT MAGAZINE
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OCTOBER 2017
where they have offices, like New York,
London, Frankfurt, Singapore, Beijing,
Chicago and Houston, there's a lot of the
world they don't cover."
By way of example, the 10 largest global
firms have offices in only 12 US states. In
many places, independent firms are the
largest players. e WSG firm in Santiago,
at 175 lawyers, is the largest firm in Chile,
dwarfing the local offices of the global
firms, which top out at 25 lawyers. From
the perspective of inbound work, Dentons
Canada LLP, Norton Rose Fulbright Can-
ada LLP and DLA Piper (Canada) LLP are
the only representatives of either the global
giants or the vereins in this country. Nor-
ton Rose, with 167 lawyers in Montréal, is
the largest. But otherwise, independents
rule: nationally, BLG's 726 lawyers make
it the largest firm, while Blakes tops the
list in Toronto (298), Gowling in Ottawa
(277), Fasken in Vancouver (137) and Ben-
nett Jones (173) in Calgary. Homegrown
independents Stewart McKelvey, Cox &
Palmer and McInnes Cooper dominate
the Atlantic market.
On this analysis, networks provide value
to independents of any size. Even US-based
McGuireWoods LLP, a firm of more than
1,000 lawyers, is a member of Lex Mundi.
So is US-based Baker Botts and its 725 at-
torneys. Blakes, with 604 lawyers, is the
largest Canadian firm in a network, fol-
lowed by Davies Ward and its 240 lawyers.
What seems clear is that major indepen-
dents, competing for the high-end work,
find networks a useful tool in competing
with global law firms and giant vereins,
while working hand in hand with the ones
with which they have relationships.
e emergence of Nextlaw, moreover, es-
tablishes that even the largest legal entities
see the value of networks. "If we don't have
the talent that our clients need or have a
conflict, we'll make a referral to a Nextlaw
firm," Portnoy says.
MOST FIRMS, however, don't compete
for the very highest-end work. "Minden
Gross isn't interested in doing work for Co-
ca-Cola, but we have our own kind of client
and niche market," says Kallish's partner
Samantha Prasad, who sits on the Meritas
board. "It's not just large public companies
that need assistance abroad, because mid-
market firms are also globalizing."
According to Kallish, Minden Gross
lawyers see clients that are doing interna-
tional business "virtually every day" and
Meritas "allows us to serve their needs."
Nick Torchetti of Aird & Berlis goes fur-
ther. "Belonging to Interlaw means we have
no problem competing with international
firms for international clients," he says.
e point, McGarry says, is that net-
works can benefit firms of any size. And
it's not just about referrals. "People tend to
think that inbound referrals are the most
important thing, but in my view the big-
gest benefit is the opportunity to maintain
a firm's own clients," he says.
at's true both nationally and inter-
nationally. Meritas has representatives
throughout Canada, including Robertson
Stromberg LLP in Saskatoon, BCF LLP in
Montréal and Québec City, Patterson Law
in Halifax, Lawson Creamer in Saint John,
Benson Buffett in St. John's, Key Murray
Law in Prince Edward Island, McLennan
Ross LLP in Calgary, Edmonton and the
Northwest Territories, Pitblado Law LLP
in Winnipeg, Boughton Law LLP in Van-
couver, Minden Gross LLP in Toronto, and
Brazeau Seller Law LLP in Ottawa.
YET THE DEBATE rages about the rela-
tive merits of networks and global firms or
vereins as springboards to an international
presence. "Ogilvy Renault went global via
the verein route to acquire the scale of ex-
pertise that only being large and global can
bring you, including the best technology
systems and seamless management of cli-
ent business on a constant basis," says Nor-
man Steinberg, Chairman, Norton Rose
Fulbright Canada LLP and former chair
of the global firm, who shepherded Ogilvy
Renault's combination with Norton Rose.
"Like the Big Four, we went for scale and
enterprise sharing of resources. You can't
do that if you have a bunch of disparate
firms in a bunch of different places."
Still, Steinberg concedes that networks
of independent firms have their place. "I
wouldn't want to wake up and be the chair
of Ogilvy Renault today, but if I was, I'd
want to be a member of a network," Stein-
berg says. "e difficulty I see is that once a
network gets so large, how do you exercise
control over things like the quality of each
independent firm?"
As Portnoy sees it, the difference be-
tween networked and global firms or ver-
eins is like "night and day." No matter how
NORMAN STEINBERG NORTON ROSE FULBRIGHT CANADA LLP
"I wouldn't want to wake up and be the chair of Ogilvy Renault today,
but if I was, I'd want to be a member of a network. The difficulty I see
is that once a network gets so large, how do you exercise control
over things like the quality of each independent firm?"
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