From left to right: McCarthy Tétrault LLP partners Nicole D’Aoust; Robert Hayhoe, charities and non-profits lead; and Raj Juneja, co-head of tax, in Toronto on July 9.Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail
Legal Moves is a regular roundup of job changes at Canada’s law firms.
McCarthy Tétrault is wading into a niche practice area that big Bay Street firms have typically left to the boutiques and mid-market firms.
The firm’s national tax group has brought on two seasoned partners – Robert Hayhoe, one of the country’s leading experts in this space, as well as Chambers-ranked Nicole D’Aoust – to build out its work for charities and not-for-profit clients.
“This is a really big move in our sector,” Ms. D’Aoust said. “For a Seven Sister to take the leap of faith and see the value in this practice and want to build it with us, it’s definitely – in our little area of charity and not-for-profit law – a big deal.”
The practice area is highly specialized, Mr. Hayhoe explained, and involves providing sophisticated tax, tax compliance, tax defence and donation advice, as well as support with Canada Revenue Agency audits.
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Philanthropy is changing, Ms. D’Aoust added. This new generation doesn’t just want to write a cheque for a grant out of the family foundation – they want to create activities and programs.
“We have unique expertise helping people who have super interesting ideas for what they want to do with their philanthropy and then executing it in a way that’s compliant with Canadian tax rules,” she said.
Mr. Hayhoe said they’ve also been doing a significant amount of cross-border work with large U.S. charities that are expanding into Canada. He said that a shocking number of large U.S.-based charities – including private foundations with tech billionaire money attached to them – have been calling recently looking for guidance.
“They’re asking, you know, ‘We think that there’s some possibility that the U.S. government is going to seize all of our assets. Can we move to Canada in a week?’”
Before joining McCarthy Tétrault, Mr. Hayhoe and Ms. D’Aoust had been with Miller Thomson.
Raj Juneja, the co-head of McCarthy’s national tax group, said when the pair approached the firm, as soon as he started to learn about the types of clients they were serving and the work they were doing, he didn’t need much convincing.
Mr. Juneja said the move into charities and non-profits is the next evolution for McCarthy’s tax group.
For Mr. Hayhoe and Ms. D’Aoust, it was the right move for their clients.
“These are large corporations that have the same needs as large business corporations,” Ms. D’Aoust said. These clients need support across a range of practice areas, from privacy and real estate, to anti-terrorism and intellectual property, to employment and commercial contracting.
McCarthy can provide top-tier advice in all of those areas, Ms. D’Aoust said.
Ms. D’Aoust and Mr. Hayhoe will be building out McCarthy Tétrault's work for charities and not-for-profit clients in its national tax group.Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail
There was a flurry of hiring at law firms across the country in recent months.
McCarthy Tétrault, in addition to bringing Mr. Hayhoe and Ms. D’Aoust on board, has made a number of other hires, including Vasuda Sinha, who joined the national litigation and dispute resolution group, and Marc-Philippe Gagnon, who is now a member of the Montreal office’s tax group. Additionally, Jack Schroder joined the firm’s business law group in Calgary and Maxime-Arnaud Keable is a new addition to the firm’s litigation group in Quebec City.
Stikeman Elliott has added Megan Ollivier, whose practice focuses on commercial transactions within the energy sector and private mergers and acquisitions, to its energy group. She had previously been with Bennett Jones. “I was drawn to the firm’s collaborative culture and its nationally integrated platform,” Ms. Ollivier told The Globe and Mail in an e-mail. “It felt like the right place to grow my practice.” She is based in Calgary.
Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt last month announced that François Paradis had been named the new managing partner of its Montreal office. “I am looking to build on our positive momentum and growth, while continuing to strengthen our ties with the Quebec business community and to leverage our leading platform on nationally relevant matters,” he said in an e-mail. Mr. Paradis has worked in the firm’s Montreal office since 2001, shortly after it opened.
Meanwhile, Miller Thomson has made a number of recent hires to its corporate, mergers and acquisitions, and securities group.
Andrew Powers, whose experience includes domestic and cross-border financings and initial public offerings, came on board. He will be co-lead of the firm’s mining group. The firm also welcomed Jeff Gebert, who specializes in capital markets and securities law. Before becoming a lawyer, Mr. Gebert was an engineer in the natural resources sector, as well as a scientist working at a technology startup.
“The firm is making significant investments in its corporate and securities practice – particularly in key sectors like mining and technology – and the momentum is clear,“ Mr. Gebert said in an e-mail, adding that joining the firm was a natural next step for him.
Alex Bruvels is another addition. His focus is capital markets and mining, as well as structured real estate products. And finally, Jasmine Lothian, who advises both private and public companies in Canada and the United States, also came on board as a partner.
“The addition of Andrew, Jeff, Alex, and Jasmine highlights the Firm’s growth and ongoing focus on strengthening expertise in key sectors,” Jay Hoffman, chair of the national business law group, said in a release.
At Norton Rose Fulbright, litigator Katie Mak has joined the Vancouver office as a partner. Also in Vancouver, the firm added Nick Cosulich to its business law group.
Aird & Berlis has welcomed Jennifer Shayko as the co-leader of its franchising group. She is also a member of the corporate group.
In May, Dentons announced two new partners were joining the corporate group in Montreal as partners, including business lawyer Dominique Babin, whose practices includes corporate transactions and international trade and compliance, with a focus on the life sciences and manufacturing sectors.
“I made the move to Dentons to offer my clients access to the firm’s unparalleled global reach and cutting-edge expertise – both of which are essential in navigating today’s increasingly complex domestic and cross-border corporate and commercial matters," Ms. Babin told The Globe in an e-mail. The firm also added Kosta Kostic, who has extensive experience in the areas of mergers and acquisitions, private equity, and securities and corporate finance.
Meanwhile this month, DLA Piper announced that Colin Andrews, whose practice includes land development, lending and acquisitions, was joining the Toronto office’s real estate group as a partner. In an e-mail to The Globe, Mr. Andrews said he was excited about his new firm: “With a lot of uncertainty in the real estate market, I believe we, at DLA, are well positioned to assist established real estate players and up-and-comers who will jump on distressed development sites to position themselves well for the future.”