Best Law Firms in Canada for Corporate Governance Practice

Farris LLP ("Farris") is a leading Canadian law firm with offices in Vancouver and Victoria, British Columbia. The full-service firm represents some of the largest public and private institutions and corporations in the province, and has the proven capacity and experience to carry out complex and multi-dimensional legal projects.

Corporate/Commercial: With more than 30 lawyers, the Corporate/Commercial group at Farris is relied upon by clients to assist with a wide range of matters, across a variety of industries. Unique amongst most large law firms, our corporate lawyers are first trained as generalists before they specialize in any given area of business law. We believe a broad legal knowledge of the key business law issues affecting businesses and industries enables us to help our clients solve their legal problems –big or small–quickly and effectively.

Delivering on our clients’ goals and ambitions means working closely with our clients to develop work plans tailored to their particular needs in terms of scope and budget. Our clients rely upon our advice regarding capital raising, finance strategies, governance issues, succession planning, insourcing, and outsourcing. Our lawyers assist with contract drafting and negotiations, securing regulatory approvals, agreements for joint ventures, and acquiring or selling aspects of a business. We regularly advise on privately negotiated transactions, controlled auctions, plans of arrangement and take-over bids, as well as reorganizations and restructurings for tax optimization.

Advocacy & Litigation: Our litigators are recognized leaders in their field, providing timely, creative and practical representation in a full range of commercial, corporate and constitutional litigation, and have extensive experience conducting hearings, trials and appeals. Our clients are diverse and include major business organizations, public bodies, universities, First Nations, media organizations, family litigants, and public interest groups. We advocate for our clients in every forum and at every level of court, and are engaged in many of the most important cases in the province at any given time. We recognize that advocacy work entails flexibility and a constant evaluation of available options, and that not all matters require a formal hearing. We actively look for opportunities to engage in alternate dispute resolution processes where appropriate.

Labour and Employment: Farris has a full-service labour and employment practice, providing advice, counsel, and representation to our clients in all aspects of workplace law.

We have broad experience representing employers in employment law disputes, including wrongful dismissal matters, disputes relating to restrictive covenants, disability related claims, discrimination and accommodation matters, Human Rights issues, employment and labour standards matters, privacy matters, and workers compensation issues. Our lawyers regularly represent our clients in Court and before administrative tribunals that apply employment-related statutes.

Our lawyers have vast experience in labour relations matters, acting before arbitrators, arbitration boards, and appearing in related judicial reviews and injunction applications before all levels of court and advising employers in a wide range of industries. We regularly act for employers with respect to grievance arbitration and collective agreement administration. Our lawyers conduct Labour Board hearings including applications for certification and decertification, unfair labour practices, variance, common employer and successorship issues. We assist clients with strikes and lockouts and the legal issues that can arise including picketing, ally and replacement workers.

We also assist our clients in drafting and reviewing employment agreements that cover all aspects of the employment relationship, including compensation and benefits, stock options and other incentive plans, severance provisions, restrictive covenants, intellectual property matters, hours of work, and alternative dispute resolution; as well as drafting Employee Handbooks that provide for various rules and regulations that apply in the workplace.

Taxation: Farris lawyers work together with our clients and their accountants to provide timely, innovative and practical tax advice. Representing a broad range of domestic, international, public and private-sector corporate clients across many industries, we provide guidance in areas of expertise such as mergers & acquisitions, real estate, structuring corporate groups and partnerships, fund formation and executive compensation. Our lawyers also have vast experience in advising on cross-border mergers and acquisitions, cross-border debt and equity offerings, structuring and financing of inbound investments into Canada and outbound investments from Canada, foreign affiliate reorganizations, profit repatriation, intellectual property migration strategies, electronic commerce, transfer pricing and tax treaty issues. For our private clients, we offer advice in owner-manager tax planning, estate and trust planning, private equity and venture capital investments.

If and when audits or disputes with the tax authorities arise, our lawyers have the experience and expertise to support you at every step. Our tax litigators represent clients in all types of CRA audits and disputes, assisting with proposals, voluntary disclosures, objections to CRA findings and appeals.

Recognition:

• 61 Farris partners ranked in Best Lawyers in Canada.
• Farris rated one of Vancouver’s leading corporate and litigation law firms for over a decade by The Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory.
• Farris Repeatedly Recognized as One of Canada's Best Law Firms
• 28 Farris partners ranked in The Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory.

Languages: English, French, Mandarin, Cantonese, Punjabi and Spanish.

Gowling WLG is an international law firm built on the belief that the best way to serve you is to be in tune with your world, aligned with your opportunity and ambitious for your success. With more than 1,500 legal professionals around the world, we provide our clients with in-depth knowledge in key global sectors and a suite of legal services at home and abroad. We see the world through our clients' eyes, and collaborate across countries, offices, service areas and sectors to help them succeed, no matter how challenging the circumstances.

Brief History

With roots tracing back to 1887, Gowling WLG grew to become one of the largest and most respected law firms in Canada, with a reputation for innovation in client-focused service delivery.

Building on its early strength in intellectual property, Gowling WLG diversified to offer a full suite of business law, litigation and intellectual property services in all of Canada’s key industries, including energy, mining, financial services, government, infrastructure, manufacturing, life sciences and technology.

Established by former litigation partners of a national Canadian firm, LCM Attorneys has earned its reputation as one of Montréal’s premier litigation boutiques. Built on strategic insight and uncompromising advocacy, the firm brings together more than 35 accomplished lawyers recognized for their sound judgment, intellectual rigor, and unwavering commitment to client success.

LCM Attorneys represents multinational corporations, financial institutions, professionals, and entrepreneurs in high-stakes and complex disputes. The firm’s practice spans class actions, securities litigation, commercial and shareholders’ disputes, professional liability, construction law, public law, arbitration, and international matters. Combining meticulous preparation with strategic clarity, LCM Attorneys works closely with its clients to navigate sophisticated legal challenges and deliver decisive, results-driven outcomes.

Lindsay Kenney LLP is a regional business law firm established in 1980 with business lawyers in Vancouver and Langley, BC.

A Western Canadian independent law firm, Lindsay Kenney brings decades of experience to addressing the legal needs of our clients. While we are a business law firm deeply rooted in our communities, the firm has earned a national reputation.

Our litigators have appeared at every level of Court, on matters ranging from complex commercial issues to personal injury disputes, family and divorce law, and fraud litigation. Our solicitors act for some of Canada's largest corporations in all aspects of business law including corporate mergers and acquisitions, disputes, secured lending and realization, and estate planning.

Vancouver Office
Suite 1500, 401 West Georgia Street
Vancouver, BC, Canada V6B 5A1
Tel: 604.687.1323
Fax: 604.687.2347

Langley Office
Suite 400, 8621 - 201 Street
Langley, BC, Canada V2Y 0G9
Tel: 604.888.5811
Fax: 604.888.6565

At Michael, Evrensel & Pawar LLP (MEP Business Counsel), we approach the practice of business law differently. We are on a mission to challenge the inherent inefficiencies typically found in conventional “Big Law” firms, pushing to reject the inflexible and expensive service models found at those firms.

As a guiding principle, we are committed to provide the same high-quality expertise of a top-tier national law firm, but deliver it with the innovation, cost-efficiencies and personal attentiveness you’d expect from dedicated in-house counsel.

As a Canadian corporate and entertainment law firm with extensive international experience, our contemporary model is simple but far from common:

• World-Class Experience – Our team of highly experienced and award-winning lawyers – with training and experience from internationally recognized firms in London, New York, Toronto, Montreal, Beijing and Vancouver – provide world-class business and entertainment legal services to some of North America’s most notable companies.

• Client-Centred Approach – Clients now demand more of their legal advisors, which is driving a change in the legal services landscape in Canada, and rightly so. Businesses expect greater value at sensible prices, which is achieved by receiving practical legal advice tailored to advance their goals. At MEP Business Counsel, we have an unwavering commitment to your business, with a goal to provide you with bespoke legal services that put your real needs first.

• Business-First Thinking – We have a unique combination of established legal expertise and commercial understanding. Effective business counsel should help drive your commercial success by crafting solutions, not by simply identifying constraints. At MEP Business Counsel, we pride ourselves on aligning our advice with your core business objectives, offering solutions to overcome obstacles. After all, we are entrepreneurs in our own right.

• Flexible Value-Based Pricing and Alternative Fee Arrangements – Your business needs are unique. That’s why MEP Business Counsel is flexible when it comes to pricing and fee arrangements. Unhindered by the rigidity of the conventional “big law” firm model, MEP Business Counsel is able to work with you to respond to those unique demands. Regardless of the fee arrangement, at the core of each of our mandates is a commitment to provide exceptional value and build lasting business relationships.

When lawyers with complementary areas of dedicated practice are strategically bundled together they create a team of legal expertise that extends far beyond the sum of their individual capabilities.

Effective multi-level teams are how Taylor McCaffrey LLP has come to be known as one of Manitoba’s most focused and formidable law firms.

Over the last several decades Taylor McCaffrey LLP – the firm – has achieved a reputation for excellence in law in our five Core Areas of Practice and the practice grouping of our individual lawyers.

We invite you to read more about our five Core Areas of Practice below.

Our Civil Litigation Practice Area chooses to focus on litigation on behalf of our corporate, commercial, business and individual clients. We do not practice in the area of criminal litigation. Our litigators regularly appear at all levels of court in Manitoba including provincial and federal courts and before a wide range of administrative tribunals and arbitration panels. We take pride in our many successes in matters that have proceeded to the Supreme Court of Canada.

The Corporate & Commercial Area of Practice provides focused business law services to our corporate, commercial, and business clients. The interests we serve range from proprietors of small businesses to partnerships, corporate entities, pension funds, governments, related agencies and national and multi-national corporations, professional groups, chartered banks, and insurance and trust companies.

Taylor McCaffrey LLP offers advice and specialized litigation for the simplest uncontested family proceedings to the most complex financial cases involving trusts, forensic auditing and accounting and business valuations.

The lawyers in our Family Law Practice Area have the breadth of experience necessary to assist with comprehensive resolutions of all family law issues.

Our Labour & Employment Practice Area focuses on all employer-side aspects of labour and human resources and our entire team can be mobilized quickly if a major project demands that concentration of activity, in situations such as strike management, applications for certification, or a workplace accident.

Our Taxation Practice Area offers lawyers experienced in the areas of planning, compliance, litigation and the development of complex financial instruments related to personal, corporate, not-for profit and municipal tax issues.

• Construction Law
• Entertainment Law
• Financial Services & Restructuring
• First Nations
• Insurance
• Intellectual Property & Information Technology
• Municipal Law
• Pension Law
• Personal Injury & Medical Malpractice
• Property Development & Real Estate
• Securities
• Wills, Estates & Trusts