The Vancouver skyline is seen in this file photo.DARRYL DYCK/The Globe and Mail
Bay Street titan Osler Hoskin & Harcourt LLP is opening a Vancouver office that will focus on the burgeoning technology sector and include well-known B.C. tech industry lawyer Mark Longo.
Osler, with offices in Toronto, Montreal, Calgary, Ottawa and New York, says its move is aimed at serving emerging companies, investment funds and technology clients, as well existing businesses with operations in B.C.
"Our clients have been encouraging us to establish a presence in this increasingly important market, with its links to industries of strategic importance to us and to the U.S. and Asia, and we're delighted to do so," Dale Ponder, the firm's managing partner, said in a statement released Thursday.
The Vancouver office will open Aug. 12. Mr. Longo, who has advised a long list of tech startups on financing and sales to major tech companies, joins Osler from Vancouver's LaBarge Weinstein LLP.
He will be a co-chair of Osler's emerging companies practice. Tom Isaac, who leads Osler's aboriginal law practice, and tax specialist and former Federal Court of Appeal justice Karen Sharlow, will also operate out of the new Vancouver office.
But the focus for Osler is clearly Vancouver's expanding tech startup scene. The firm's press release includes a testimonial from Ryan Holmes, CEO of Vancouver-based tech darling Hootsuite Media Inc., an Osler client since its first round of financing in 2009.
"Through a number of major events in our company, they have leaned in and been there to help support us through the process as a true partner," Mr. Holmes said in the statement. "I am excited to see them enter the Vancouver market to help other tech companies build amazing businesses."
Jeff Gray