Bay Street's Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP is opening its first office outside Toronto, establishing a presence in Vancouver as it seeks to solidify its position as a go-to law firm for the mining sector.
The move makes sense for a firm with a focus on mining companies, given their concentration in Vancouver. Cassels says it reflects the number of clients it now has in B.C., and the growing number of "national and international opportunities" it sees coming with a operating a branch in the West.
"We've considered expansion into other markets before, but never saw a true strategic imperative to do so," Mark Young, Cassels managing partner, said in a statement. "But now, for us, the timing is right to make this move."
Cassels, which has 200 lawyers and two former Ontario Premiers (firm chairman David Peterson and Mike Harris) in its ranks, says it will be hiring local lawyers but is starting largely with a small team of transplants with B.C. ties.
The new office, in the HSBC Building on Georgia Street, will be overseen by partner Jennifer Traub. She will also be joined by partner David Budd. The firm has also appointed William Rand, who practised securities law in Vancouver for 25 years before going into investment banking, as a senior business adviser for the new office.
The office opens in April.
Jeff Gray