8. Blois Nickerson & Bryson
Lawyers: 18

Offices: 1

Provinces: Nova Scotia

Lawyers by Office: Halifax: 18

Core Practice Areas:
Labour arbitration; public utilities; family and child protection; insurance; property; litigation; property conveyancing; and estates.

Key Clients:
Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board; Lawyers’ Insurance Association of Nova Scotia; Halifax Children’s Aid Society; Nova Scotia Public Service Long Term Disability Trust Fund; Mak Americas Inc.; and Sisters of Charity.

Notable Mandates:
Confidential.

Star Alumni:
Nova Scotia Court of Appeal Justice Elizabeth Roscoe; the late Supreme Court of Nova Scotia associate chief justice Ian Palmeter; Nova Scotia Provincial Court Judge Michael Sherar; Justice James Williams of the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia, Family Division; and Michel Samson, interim leader of the Liberal Party of Nova Scotia.

Affiliations:
None.

The Firm:
Blois Nickerson & Bryson is an 18- lawyer Halifax-based firm that can trace its roots back to 1864. The firm handles files in other Atlantic Canada provinces, with an active private and public sector arbitration practice that extends often into New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island. “The firm has concentrated on providing a broad range of services at a reasonable cost, and, by providing a high level of service, is well positioned to, and frequently does, deal with conflict referrals from local, national, and international firms,” says senior partner Colin Bryson. “We look to grow from within, by hiring and developing young, bright lawyers who can create their own niche in a competitive market.” The consolidation of the biggest firms from four fully regional law firms to three doesn’t trouble lawyers at the firm. “We don’t see it as a challenge to our existing clients,” says Bryson. “We see it more as an opportunity in terms of conflict work.”

9. Burchell Hayman Parish
Lawyers: 23

Offices: 1

Provinces: Nova Scotia

Lawyers by Office: Halifax: 23

Core Practice Areas:
Aboriginal and treaty rights; banking and insolvency; business litigation; construction law; corporate and commercial transactions; employment law; human rights; insurance and personal injury litigation; real estate; wills, estates, and trusts.

Key Clients:
Multinational corporations; major banks and insurance companies; all levels of government; individuals; small businesses; and institutions.

Notable Mandates:
Confidential.

Star Alumni:
Supreme Court of Nova Scotia Justice David MacAdam; and Federal Court of Canada Justice Robert Barnes.

Affiliations:
Risk Counsel of Canada.

The Firm:

Burchell Hayman Parish is a 23-lawyer business law firm that offers a range of legal services to multinational corporations, major banks and insurance companies, all levels of government, individuals, small businesses, and institutions. Now based on the 17th and 18th floors of the HSBC Bank Building on Halifax’s Hollis Street, the firm was created in 2000 with the merger of Green Parish and Burchell Hayman Barnes, two well-known, mid-sized Halifax firms, creating a firm with considerable depth in both business litigation and commercial transactions. Since then, the firm has enjoyed a significant amount of work setting up unlimited liability companies, until recently allowed only in Nova Scotia (Alberta has recently followed suit), attracting considerable cross-border interest. “Many times those corporate vehicles end up involved in other transactions and then also you get to work on those related transactions,” says partner D. Bruce Clarke, one of partners. “This work in relation to unlimited liability companies fits in well with our existing corporate and commercial expertise.”  The firm also has growing practice areas in media law, human rights, insolvency and aboriginal law.

Lawyers: 27

Offices: 2

Provinces: New Brunswick

Lawyers by Office: Saint John: 19; Moncton: 8

Core Practice Areas:
Insurance and surety; corporate and commercial; litigation; labour and employment; personal injury; real estate and property; environmental; regulatory; family; wills, estates, and trusts; and health and hospital law.

Key Clients:

Aviva; College of Physicians of N.B.; Heath Insurance Reciprocal of Canada; and Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan.

Notable Mandates:
Won precedent-setting ruling in Haley v. Richardson regarding contributory negligence related to the failure to wear seatbelts; and precedent-setting chiropractic liability ruling in Mason v. Forgie.

Star Alumni:
New Brunswick Court of Appeal Justice Marc Richard; and the late New Brunswick Supreme Court justice J. Paul Barry.

Affiliations:
Member of a new national affiliation of insurance defence council.

The Firm:
One of New Brunswick’s largest independent law firms, with full service, bilingual offices in Saint John and Moncton, Barry Spalding has evolved from the original Saint John firm of Barry & O’Neil, launched in 1981 by a group of six lawyers. Four of the six original founding members of the firm — John Barry, David Barry, Howard Spalding, and Peter Zed — are still practising as partners with Barry Spalding. In 2001, the firm expanded its provincial coverage to Moncton by merging with White Debow Johnston. Today, the firm’s 27 partners and associates hail from all parts of Canada and provide clients with a full range of multilingual legal services in a “free flowing informal environment,” says partner John Barry.