In Guelph, the Miller Thomson office, which has a strong agri-business group, also moved from downtown Guelph to the University of Guelph Research Park. “We literally dropped it in the middle of agri-Canada,” says Trafford. “There are hundreds of head offices within walking distance.”

Gowlings further increased its southwestern Ontario strength with an office in Hamilton in 1995. The Hamilton Bay area has a population of 650,000. Hamilton is one of the oldest cities in Ontario, and its development as a transportation hub, with the largest inland port and the largest cargo-carrying airport in Canada, have made it an active and thriving community.

While most people associate Hamilton with megalithic steel companies, Paul Milne of Simpson Wigle Law LLP says what you see from the Skyway Bridge of the steel plants is only one view of the city. “There is certainly an industry base here, much of it family owned, but the community has changed enormously with the introduction of a health-care industry centred around the huge research facilities at McMaster University. It is one of the major universities in the country, with significant research aspects and substantive research facilities including Innovation Park.”

Milne thinks the unique thing about Hamilton is the greater preponderance of private family businesses, all within the envelope of health care and education. “The community is moving towards information/knowledge with health care and education leading the way.”

In the middle of the region, you will find the lawyers of London. Iain Sneddon, one of the managing partners at local firm Cohen Highley, says London’s position is such that it is treated like the Toronto of southwestern Ontario. “Small practices use our expertise. Just as the larger firms in Toronto might capture work up to Kitchener/Waterloo, London is far enough away from Toronto to capture the work from the southwestern realms. The work in our Sarnia office is almost all referral based.”

As you move down towards Windsor, you start finding a more international presence exploiting cross-border opportunities. Greg Monforton, while working in his personal injury boutique Greg Monforton and Partners, frequently sees the effect of the proximity of the border. “In personal injury work, we often see Americans injured in Ontario and Canadians injured in Michigan.”

Monforton has also observed that the number of lawyers practising immigration law has increased greatly in the last five years and that capital is flowing more freely between countries as corporate matters become transnational and international.

Miller Canfield is an American firm that in 2002, combined with Wilson Walker Hochberg Slopen LLP, the largest firm in Windsor, to become Windsor and Metro Detroit’s largest law firm. Its Canadian law group services organizations seeking to invest and establish operations in Canada. It has offices across America, in Poland, and recently started up in Toronto.

Siskinds LLP, which also has offices in London, Toronto, and Quebec, maintains its Windsor office primarily to handle immigration going both ways over the border.

“Many clients are commercial-based and we are arranging workers for their businesses,” says partner Catherine Bruni. “From here we can service most of the province. You don’t need to be where the work is.”

Monforton agrees. “With the increased role of technology, it’s not as important in any field to be as Toronto-centric.” And you don’t have to be Johnny-on-the-spot in Windsor to get all the cross-border work either.

Doherty of Gowlings in Waterloo says one of the strongest trends he has seen in the last 10 or 15 years is the increase in cross-border work. “This naturally reflects the business reality. Southwestern Ontario is a great place to do business. There are a lot of connections.”