With Canadian law firms opening new foreign offices almost every time you turn around - in places as far flung as Dubai, Bahrain and Hong Kong - it seems Bay Street has never been more keen to show off its global credentials.
Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP, which has long had a foreign outpost in Moscow and opened a shop in Britain in 2008, isn't boasting of a new branch plant. But it says it has landed a big fish in London, thanks to a Canadian connection.
The new hire is Robert Armour, who was general counsel for British Energy, the country's largest electricity generator, when it nearly collapsed and was then restructured and sold to EDF, a French firm. He got to know Gowlings back when the British electricity giant bought Ontario's Bruce Power, one of the Canadian law firm's clients. Mr. Armour has joined Gowlings' British office as senior counsel.
Also joining Gowlings in London are British lawyers Michael Taylor, who has more than 30 years of experience in energy and project finance; and David Shasha, a veteran of privatization deals in Central and Eastern Europe.
On the move
Borden Ladner Gervais LLP has raided rival Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP in Vancouver, picking up two intellectual property lawyers. Lesley Morrison and Erin Pisko have left Faskens for BLG, the firm announced this week.
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