The Heenan Blaikie LLP law offices in Vancouver.RAFAL GERSZAK/The Globe and Mail
Two Canadian law firms said Wednesday they have hired 90 lawyers from failed law firm Heenan Blaikie LLP, including the firm's entire teams from two smaller cities in Quebec.
Quebec-based law firm Lavery de Billy said it has hired the Sherbrooke and Trois-Rivières teams from Heenan – a total of 31 lawyers, plus two notaries and 30 staff members – on top of 13 other lawyers and 12 staff members previously hired earlier this month from Heenan's Montreal office.
Dentons Canada LLP also said Wednesday that it has hired a total of 46 lawyers from Heenan, including insolvency experts Kenneth Kraft and John Salmas.
The group includes 22 lawyers whose hires were announced by Dentons shortly after the collapse of Heenan earlier in February when a large group of lawyers looked for a new landing pad after talks collapsed with U.S.-based giant DLA Piper. But Dentons said some of the group of 46 are more recent hires, including five new partners from Heenan and 11 associate lawyers who joined the firm since the prior hiring announcements.
"The dissolution of a respected firm like Heenan Blaikie is a sobering event for all of us in the Canadian legal community," said Dentons Canada chief executive officer Chris Pinnington. "However, we are pleased that our new colleagues have chosen Dentons as the firm best suited to meet the needs and expectations of their clients and to enable them to continue to build their successful practices."
Heenan Blaikie announced Feb. 5 that it will wind up operations after partners concluded that the firm was no longer viable. The decision came after a spiralling number of number of lawyers left for other firms, including many top revenue-earners, amid concerns Heenan was facing financial constraints due to the challenges of competing as a mid-sized firm squeezed between lower-cost small firms and more competitive larger firms.
While lawyers from Heenan have ended up joining a wide variety of Canadian firms, Lavery and Dentons have absorbed the largest number. About 30 lawyers in Quebec joined Montreal-based law firm BCF along with prominent Quebec lawyer Marcel Aubut, who is also president of the Canadian Olympic Committee.
Dentons said Heenan lawyers will be joining its offices in Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa. The firm has also agreed to hire an unidentified number of Heenan Blaikie's articling students and incoming summer and articling students who have not begun work yet but had jobs lined up.
The new group unveiled also includes Toronto-based corporate lawyers Allen Garson and Wendy Del Mul, and infrastructure expert Tommaso Nanci, who is joining the Montreal office.
Dentons previously announced that former prime minister Jean Chrétien had joined the firm as counsel following Heenan's collapse, along with former Heenan co-managing partner Normal Bacal and other senior lawyers.
Dentons was created in 2013 when Canadian law firm Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP merged with global firms SNR Dentons and Salans to create a firm with 2,600 lawyers in more than 50 countries.
Lavery said its hires in Quebec reinforce the firm's position "as a leader" in business law in the province. The head of Heenan's Trois-Rivières office, Jean Boulet, said his team decided to join Lavery "because this well-established firm will increase its regional market reach in Quebec and enable our office to widen the range of services already provided to regional clients."