Downtown Calgary. In the short term, the company is hoping to attract insolvency and restructuring work. In the longer term, it wants to establish a strong presence in the oil and gas industry.Chris Bolin/The Globe and Mail
Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP is setting up shop in the heart of Canada's oil patch, some seven years after the idea first crossed the minds of partners at the historically Toronto-centric law firm.
Some time in June, the five lawyers Cassels has hired since April – three partners and two associates – will move into their new offices in Calgary from the temporary space they are occupying today at Bankers Hall. (The new digs are still under construction.)
The Toronto firm is entering a market that has cooled in terms of deals, funding and project flow since oil prices started to collapse. But, as smart investors know, there can be perks to investing at the lows and the same could ring true in the legal business, too.
"We could have gone there seven years ago and been unable to recruit the same quality of people that we think we can get now. Plus, we might have had to overpay for the people we recruited or the office space," Mark Young, managing partner at Cassels, said in an interview.
"We're not concerned about issues like, do we have one floor too much in office space, or do we have 22 too many lawyers today?"
Even though Calgary is currently awash in lawyers, Mr. Young argues that there still is enough work to go around.
"When the market is really, really hot, it is hard for a new entrant to come in, except if they have virtually unlimited resources to invest with because you're buying at the top," he added.
In the short term, Cassels is aiming to capture a portion of the restructuring and insolvency work that has picked up steam during these tough times. In the longer term, Mr. Young hopes to foster a strong oil and gas practice in Calgary to complement the work that the firm already does for clients in the mining sector and cater to the full suite of natural resources businesses. He says that the outpost could eventually employ up to 20 lawyers.
Four years ago, Cassels ventured outside Toronto for the first time since it was founded in 1888, opening a Vancouver office to get closer to mining clients and investors from Asia they were hoping to attract. Two years ago expansion to Calgary came up again when Cassels hired a group of restructuring lawyers from Dentons Canada LLP who said the practice would be stronger if the firm had a larger footprint.
Internal discussions heated up six months ago, and a vote to open the Calgary office was put to partners at Cassels' annual meeting in late March.
"There are some firms where partners and associates are a little unsure of their footing, whereas we're not burdened by any of that. We are a fresh face," Mr. Young said. "We are long-term believers in oil and gas, and in the Calgary and Alberta markets."