NORTON ROSE OR LLP
Following its ground-breaking merger with Ogilvy Renault LLP and South Africa’s Deneys Reitz earlier in the year, Norton Rose, under the name Norton Rose OR LLP, has become a major player in Canada and is home to some of the country’s finest legal talent. Lawyers from the firm appear 43 times across 19 of the following chapters, with life sciences and management labour and employment emerging as particularly strong areas, listing six and five representatives from the firm respectively.
Patrick Kierans is the head of the pharmaceuticals and life sciences group of Norton Rose globally and one of the most highly regarded practitioners in this discipline. Sources praise his “leading” IP litigation work, which assures him of a further listing in the patents section. Brian Daley, Judith Robinson and Brian Gray also appear in both sections, with Gray appearing again in the trademarks chapter. Penny Bonner and William McNamara add their names to the life sciences section, making Norton Rose the best-represented firm in the country in this field.
Montreal-based Luc Beaulieu is a senior partner in the firm’s employment and labour practice and is described as “superb” by peers. Toronto managing partner John West and office employment group head Richard Charney also rank highly, while Chantal Arsenault and Yusra Siddiquee earn prominent listings in the corporate immigration chapter.
Norton Rose is also the leading firm in the arbitration chapter, with four representatives listed. Montreal-based Yves Fortier CC QC is described as “legendary” by sources and also adds his name to our list of Canada’s leading insurance and reinsurance lawyers. Fellow Quebecois Pierre Bienvenu is the global practice leader of the international arbitration team and a former managing partner of Ogilvy Renault who earns another listing in the commercial litigation chapter. Toronto’s James Hodgson is also recommended for his litigation work as well as his “well-known” work in product liability defence.
Three Norton Rose lawyers appear in the capital markets chapter, including firm chairman and IPO specialist Norman Steinberg, who is further praised for his work in M&A transactions and ranks highly in the corresponding section.
The trade and customs chapter also features three from Norton Rose: one of the strongest performances of any firm in our research. Paul Conlin is a “leading light” according to peers and supplements his listing here with a strong performance alongside Richard Wagner in the public procurement section.
The firm’s restructuring and insolvency team is also well represented, fielding three lawyers including team leader Derrick Tay in the corresponding section.
Further listings in the aviation, oil and gas, environment, competition and construction chapters add to Norton Rose’s broad and distinguished profile in these pages.
At the time of writing, the Norton Rose Group has recently announced its plans to merge with Macleod Dixon LLP as of 1 January 2012. The merger further extends Norton Rose’s presence in Canada and adds new offices in Latin America and Kazakhstan to the group’s global network. We will continue to list the firms as separate entities until the merger comes into effect, and will chart the changes to the Canadian marketplace in the 2012 edition of Who’s Who Legal: Canada.
