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EDITORI A L
a. Osgoode Hall Law School, 0014 G
York University
4700 Keele Street
Toronto, ON M3 J 1P3
e. [email protected]
w . www.obiter-dicta.ca
t. @obiterdictaoz
“ cynical, mercenary, demagogic, corrupt press
A
will produce in time a people as base as itself.”
- JOSEPH PU LITZER
Editors-in-Chief: Cass Da Re,
Travis Weagant, Karolina Wisniewski
Business Managers: Adam Cepler,
Alvin Qian
Copy Editor: Patricia Wood
News Editor: Citlally Maciel
Arts & Culture Editor: Angie Sheep
Sports Editor: Andrew Cyr
Staff Writers: Michael Capitano,
Luke Johnston, Sam Michaels, Dan MowatRose, Marie Park, Daniel Styler, Evan Ivkovic
Contributors: Daniel Adler, Jesse Cohen
Layout Editors: Marie Park, Heather Pringle,
Devin Santos, Wendy Sun
Website Editor: Asad Akhtar
Submissions for the February 3 issue are due at
5PM on January 26, and should be submitted
to the email address above.
Obiter Dicta is the official student newspaper of
Osgoode Hall Law School. The opinions expressed
in the articles contained herein are not necessarily
those of the Obiter staff. The Obiter reserves the
right to refuse any submission that is judged to be
libelous or defamatory, contains personal attacks, or
is discriminatory on the basis of sex, race, religion,
or sexual orientation. Submissions may be edited
for length and/or content.
The Obiter Dicta is published biweekly during
the school year, and is printed by Weller Publishing
Co. Ltd.
The Obiter Dicta is a member of
Canadian University Press.
The Obiter Dicta
The bigger they are, the harder
they fall
There has been a lot of ink spilled over the
fresh demise of Heenan Blaikie LLP. The legal
landscape of downtown Toronto has been recently
altered, as a well-known and prestigious mid-size
firm unraveled before our very eyes. Every agonizing blow narrated, almost in real-time, by newspapers and legal blogs across Canada.
For many of us in law school, this is the first
time that we have borne witness to such an implosion. For many of us, Bay Street firms are monolithic surveyors of the downtown core; steadfast
and unwavering they stand guard on the Toronto
grid. There is an understanding, a presumption
even, that although the legal landscape will be
fine tuned here and there, the main players will
always be there. They will always get the big clients and have an OCI booth when the fall rolls
around.
There are changes of course: a big partner
makes a newsworthy move; the names on the
doors occasionally vary through the addition
of a well-known surname, and sometimes big
firms get bigger (read: Canadian law firm Fraser
Milner Casgrain LLP merged with two international law firms, Salans LLP and SNR Denton,
to create Dentons in March 2013). However, the
seemingly self-destructive collapse of Heenan
Blaikie, the biggest firm to do so in Toronto, is
rather unique and rather sad. The rapidity of it all
left many in the legal field incredulous and confused, with many questions left unanswered.
Is there a lesson here? Is the search for career
security futile? Is law really just politics with
a few more books? The fall of one firm cannot
begin to provide the answers to these questions,
but it does provide reason to pause and reflect.
The dissolution of Heenan Blaikie will not markedly change what it means to be a Bay Street
lawyer and it will not change Bay Street. Rest
assured, there are still many firms, bigger and
smaller, out there who are still hiring, who will
still practice in the same way they always have,
and whose largest concern at the moment is who
to poach and who to pull from the wreckage.
Lesson: Life goes on, with or without
you (or Heenan Blaikie).
This month’s current events should suggest to us
that you, they, the legal industry, Bay Street, and
Toronto, are not untouchable. No one is outside
or above politics, change, trends, (dis)loyalty, and
competition. It is incredibly dangerous to ever
get lulled into a false sense of security, or worse
yet, complacency. Many lawyers who were part of
the great exodus of February 2014 remarked that
in fact, things were good, things were turning
around, and there was a general sense of optimism
in the air. Overall, the firm was very profitable;
this was not your typical business breakdown
story of bankruptcy, fraud, and missing funds. Yet,
within a month, sweeping departures of senior
and mid-level partners from various outposts hit
the firm hard. Blow by blow, it all came tumbling
down at an alarming speed, and under very unceremonious circumstances, a partner’s meeting was
held, and it was over as soon as it had begun.
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