Lexpert Roundup on the Business of Law
Lexpert identifies and reports on emerging business issues and practice areas in the business of law. Whether online, in our magazine or in the DealsWire e-newsletter, we chronicle deals and lawsuits of interest, and cover issues of broad concern to the legal profession and those who purchase legal services. We hope you enjoy this sample of our latest content.
From the DealsWire: TransCanada-Columbia, Bombardier bailout
The Lexpert DealsWire (subscribe here) documents facts, figures and key legal players behind recent deals. This week's announced deal spotlight features the key players and figures in TransCanada Corporation's $10.2-billion (U.S.) acquisition of Columbia Pipeline Group.
In our closed deals section, we look at Franco-Nevada acquiring a precious metals stream from Glencore, as well as Groupe Marcelle buying Lise Watier Cosmétiques.
We also look at the players behind Bombardier selling 30 per cent of its transportation business to the Caisse. Finally, we give you the legal teams on Sprott Asset Management's exchange offer for Central GoldTrust.
Is Canada's plan for a single securities regulator on the ropes?
Provincial squabbling, Quebec's court challenge and questions about the extent of the new government's commitment are raising questions about whether a co-operative stock market regulator is going to materialize any time soon. It wasn't in Finance Minister Bill Morneau's maiden budget speech last week – a sharp departure from the last three Tory budgets which have trumpeted the plan, so a growing number of legal experts are dubious it's still on the fast track.
Tower dumps breach privacy
A recent Ontario Superior Court decision may obligate companies to mount constitutional challenges to production orders that intrude on customers' privacy. In his decision, Justice John Sproat of the Ontario Superior Court ruled that the "tower dump" orders issued by justices of the peace at the request of Peel Regional Police were too broad and amounted to unreasonable seizures under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Contract automation poised to change legal practice
Modern document automation goes beyond auto-fill. Coupled with artificial intelligence, this unstoppable force is poised to drive down legal costs and change the way lawyers practise. Computer systems today can generate everything from client reporting letters and multi-party cross-border loan agreements to complex term sheets and contracts – doing in seconds what it would have taken lawyers and paralegals days or weeks to complete. And this is just the dawn.
Opportunity knocks in energy industry crisis, lawyers say
With the price of oil sinking to lows not seen in years, the oil and gas industry continues to play defence. But in crisis, opportunity knocks for the energy industry. "I think the opportunity for innovation is pretty big right now for everybody" in the industry, says Chip Johnston, a partner in Stikeman Elliott LLP's Corporate Group in Calgary. "I think that thinking has been disrupted and that causes people to look at things in a different way. And that leads to innovation, which results in greater productivity down the road."
Beyond book smarts
Should legal education focus on the consumers we serve? Of course it should, writes former attorney general Chris Bentley in this month's Change Agent column. Lawyers are faced with change on a scale and pace rarely seen in history. Our laws are not keeping up with societal changes. Consumers are served by a legal system that is slow, complex and expensive – with many denied its benefits – and they increasingly demand services that respond to their own schedule and price.
Going Transpacific: Part I
For Canada, where global trade makes up nearly a third of GDP, ratifying the TPP is no trivial matter, writes McCarthy Tétrault LLP's George Takach in this month's legal tech column. In the first of a three-part series, he discusses specific aspects of the TPP related to e-commerce and intellectual property.
Branding: Not what you think
Branding isn't merely a logo or visual style – it goes far deeper than that, right to the core of the firm's identity, writes business-development coach Donna Wannop in her latest legal marketing column. While it is true that a firm's "visual identity" can help to reinforce a particular style or personality, branding is about much more than simply creating a look.
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