I didn’t even apply to Bay Street at all,” says Inch. “I had read up on the economic boom, and it just really made sense to go where the action is. There’s a lot of potential to be successful.”

It’s boom time in Calgary, and the big deals are flowing as fast as the oil and gas. That means good times for law firms — and good careers for those who want in on the action. Tom Booth is one of them.

“I was looking for an exciting city, a city where there was a strong business culture and lots of activity happening, huge potential for growth,” Booth says. “I have no regrets.”

After considering both Vancouver and Toronto, Booth moved to Calgary in 2005. He articled at the Calgary office of Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP, which boasts 116 lawyers. He’s now an associate whose practice has an emphasis on regulatory law.

“From my own experience, Toronto is the biggest city in Canada and it’s the biggest legal market, so naturally people are going to look there,” says the Dalhousie graduate. “But I think now that people are realizing there are more opportunities in Calgary that didn’t exist before, and people are reading about the size of deals that are coming through Calgary in terms of what the legal community is doing there, it’s certainly shifted the focus.”

Jamie Niessen, marketing director for Burnet Duckworth, a Calgary firm with about 80 lawyers, has spoken with students on the crux of the big decision at many career fairs.

“Students who are from eastern Canada ask ‘Why Calgary? Why would I leave Bay Street?’ ” he says. “They want expertise. They’re looking to do skill building, and they need to understand the calibre and quality of work that’s being done here. Part of the problem is perception. There might be a perception that it’s just regional work that’s being done here. But Calgary’s not the farm team anymore.”

Whether you’ve been away for a while or never even visited, Calgary is probably not what you expect or remember. This city, now hitting the one-million mark in population, is becoming more cosmopolitan — and more of a business law centre — by the day. There are now 93 law firms and 1,282 business entities involved in law in Calgary, employing 3,974 lawyers, according to figures provided in late January by the Alberta Law Association.

With Calgary salaries and cost of living starting to line up with Toronto, the decision to apply out west for an articling position or a job comes down to two things: the quality of the work, and the quality of the lifestyle.
Recruiters know that, and as the demand for good lawyers increases in Calgary, they are ready to lure new graduates with talk of big opportunity.

“In Calgary now, things are good, and the work is interesting and challenging. And that has a trickle-down effect right down to the student ranks,” says Adam Pekarsky, the director of professional development and recruitment for Fraser Milner in western Canada. “Our articling students get good work. They get exposed to top-notch litigation files, to corporate deals, to regulatory hearings. Chances are, if there’s a pipeline being built in this neck of the woods, our students are going to have some exposure to that.”

Articling students in Calgary may indeed have more opportunities for a wide range of work, according to Kyla Sandwith, director of professional recruitment at Borden Ladner Gervais LLP. “I think the quality of work is one of the main things,” she says. “Students have the opportunity to be involved in whatever they want, not necessarily oil and gas, but all the spinoffs from that industry. There are restaurants opening all over the place, buildings going up.”

Calgary is the headquarters of the oil and gas industry in Canada, with companies like Petro Canada, Imperial Oil, Shell, and Encana — all huge multinational corporations — based in the city. That means big direct involvement, and that means big spin-offs.

Gina Ross thinks that’s a good incentive. She’s co-chair of the hiring committee at Burnet Duckworth. “In terms of dollar value, the number of transactions that have been handled by Calgary law firms in general and by this law firm specifically, it’s just huge,” she says. “It is astronomical the size of the deals that come through.”

In the last couple of years there’s been more and more work available through the oil sands projects, which offer an array of legal challenges. The projects are so massive, they need their own infrastructure. “They have their own planes and runways and their own fire departments and their medical staff,” Ross says. “It’s fascinating work because of the magnitude of the projects.”

So, the deals are big. But it’s not just the size of the deals that matters. It’s the approach. As many who live here will point out, there’s something different about the corporate culture in Calgary.

“Calgary certainly has a reputation for having a very entrepreneurial, youthful corporate culture that distinguishes it from some of the other major cities in Canada and in fact in the U.S.,” says Booth.