Lexpert’s September cover.
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: CAP REIT bulks up, Rogers-Mobilicity, Intact expands
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 Canadian Apartment Properties REIT's purchase of a portfolio of Montréal buildings for $490-million.
In our closed deals section, we look at Enbridge's transfer of its Canadian liquid pipelines business to Enbridge Income Fund, as well as the sale of Mobilicity to Rogers Communications for $465-million.
We also look at the legal teams on Intact Financial Corp.'s purchase of Canadian Direct Insurance from Canadian Western Bank, which extends its direct operations to Western Canada.
Calgary law firms watching client cutbacks
With oil and gas companies eliminating 35,000 Alberta jobs so far this year in a bid to slash costs, the tight klatch of law firms that do their legal work are asking themselves whether they can escape unscathed. "People are taking a very sober look at the market," says John Mercury, co-head of private equity at Bennett Jones LLP, one of the oldest Calgary independents. "Your fortunes are tied to those of your clients. There's obviously some cost-cutting out of the private sector, we'd be naive not to be watching the marketplace closely."
The Duty to accommodate: Legal obligation is evolving in groundbreaking ways
Merging human rights issues such as family status, the aging workforce, religious observance and transgender identity are creating new challenges for employers and their in-house counsel. The legal obligation to accommodate the needs of workers (up to the point of undue hardship) is being interpreted in groundbreaking ways by courts, human rights tribunals and arbitration boards.
Lexpert publishes 2015/2016 Leading Canadian Lawyers in Global Mining supplement
Lexpert has just published its Leading Canadian Lawyers in Global Mining supplement. Click here to see a digital replica of the print edition. Mining is a global business and Canada is at its financial hub. Lexpert worked with several leading conference producers and one venerable publication, Mining Journal, to produce this special supplement.
This publication includes the following articles:
Alternative Financing: Money's tighter but finance options have widened for an industry in need of creativity;
First Nations Developments: Recent court decisions on Aboriginal title are sending tremors through the mining sector in Canada;
Transparency Requirements Get Teeth: New requirements to report payments made to governments mean Canada has caught up to global trends;
Québec's Incentive: Québec is investing in mining infrastructure as part of its "Plan Nord" but the payoff is not immediate.
The supplement also includes biographical information about the leading Canadian Mining Lawyers.
RFP pressure tactics
In Richard Stock's latest Law Departments column, he lays out a few key questions that every chief legal officer should include on a request for proposal, and goes on to discuss how RFPs can be used to extract more value from your law firm.