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But now, a year later, A&O’s not-so-bold Canada gambit is over.Comstock

In a time when massive foreign law firms – Norton Rose Fulbright, Dentons, DLA Piper – have been making made big moves into Canada, word that Allen & Overy, a charter member of London's elite, so-called "Magic Circle," had opened a representative office in Toronto last year staffed by two lawyers barely made a ripple.

But now, a year later, A&O's not-so-bold Canada gambit is over. Toronto-based Partner François Duquette is moving in-house to the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec and back home to Montreal. He starts in a month, with the title senior director of investments.

"With me being the only partner leaving, they decided to shut down the office," Mr. Duquette said in an interview, adding that the firm will continue to serve Canadian clients from its New York and London offices.

He said the opportunity with the Caisse was too good to pass up, for personal and professional reasons. It allows him to return to Quebec, after 16 years working abroad in London, Paris, Abu Dhabi and founding A&O's Casablanca office in 2011: "It is going to be good to go back home."

A&O's brief move into Toronto was never meant to be a full-blown invasion, as Norton Rose Fulbright and others have done through mergers with large domestic firms.

A&O's Toronto office was always meant to be a small representative office, a marketing foothold. The goal was to serve Canadian clients and attract new ones, Mr. Duquette said. It was not set up to practice Canadian law or compete in the Canadian legal marketplace. Several New York firms have similar offices in Toronto.

It was not immediately clear what the next step would be for Pierre Abinakle, a senior associate in the Toronto office, who previously worked for A&O in Dubai.

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