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: Progressive Waste inversion, MTS Allstream, Barrick sell-off
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 the cross-border tax inversion reverse merger deal between Waste Connections Inc. and Progressive Waste Solutions Ltd.
In our closed deals section, we look at the sale of Allstream by Manitoba Telecom Services, as well as heavy-duty bus manufacturer New Flyer Industries acquiring Motor Coach Industries.
We also look at the players behind Barrick Gold's sale of assets in Nevada to Waterton Global. Finally, we give you the legal teams on the leveraged buyout of yarn manufacturer Spinrite by TorQuest Partners.
The future of poison pills
A pair of decisions on shareholder rights plans by two securities regulators have cast light on how so-called poison pills will be dealt with in the lead-up to the Canadian Securities Administrators' newly proposed takeover bid regime.
Graphic: Who's buying whom?
An analysis of announced deals shows the tendency for certain acquirers to gravitate to certain targets. Pension boards, for instance, are far more likely to buy non-controlling stakes than whole enterprises requiring specialized management.
Tax inversions feed Canadian law firms
From accepting U.S. draft dodgers in the 1960s, Canada has moved in more recent times to accepting U.S. corporate tax refugees. The most recent example? Texas-based Waste Connections Inc., which is buying Canada's Progressive Waste Solutions Ltd. and relocating the parent company to Ontario. For corporate law firms struggling with a shrinking client pool, there is work to be mined – not just in structuring the transaction but also in doing the continuing legal work for the former U.S. head office.
Delaware award against RBC a warning for Canadian merger risks
Whether or not Canadian courts would come to the same conclusion as the Delaware Supreme Court in upholding a $76-million (U.S.) award against RBC is unclear, but the late November decision has already had an impact on the way that Canadian boards and their financial advisers relate in change-of-control situations.
Giving back: The growth and formalization of pro bono work
Law firms are increasingly formalizing – and increasing – their pro bono work, from the grassroots to the Supreme Court of Canada.
Global expansion: Top issues for in-house counsel
Business culture, human rights concerns and relationship nuances are just a few of the myriad considerations in-house counsel must look at when their companies are thinking of expanding globally.
Better, not more
When asked what business development means to them, almost every lawyer in practice responds by saying that business development is about getting more clients and more files, or in other words, it's about generating an increased volume of billable work. That attitude may be missing the point, writes Donna Wannop in this month's legal marketing column.
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