In short, it has created an economy that is not only the envy of every other province in the country but it just might have the right recipe to be recession-proof.

As good as things are today, there’s nothing on the horizon that points to a reversal of fortune. The Conference Board of Canada recently predicted Saskatchewan would lead the country with 1.6-per-cent GDP growth in 2009, well ahead of the 0.5-per-cent decrease forecast for the entire nation. Saskatchewan’s performance has even caught the attention of news giant CNN, which recently posted a feature story on its web site in which it called the province a “jobs hot spot” in Canada.

The province’s legal industry is only too happy to soak up the seemingly never-ending good vibrations.

Jeff Grubb, Regina-based partner at Balfour Moss LLP and a member of its management committee, says people in the province are optimistic the good times will continue to roll but they’re well aware that Saskatchewan isn’t permanently immune to what ails the global economy. “Our economy is defying a bit what’s happening in the rest of the world. We don’t want to say that too loudly,” he says. “Businesses are still expanding and growing here. The offshoot of that into the legal market is good as well. We’re not seeing a lot of new kinds of industries but [existing] businesses are doing more, more people are coming into the province, and they’re buying more real estate. There’s more litigation as well because there’s more activity and more people.”

Don Wilson, managing partner of MacPherson Leslie & Tyerman LLP, says the firm’s four offices, two in Saskatchewan and two in Alberta, are doing relatively well but for different reasons. He says things are far from perfect — some clients have laid off employees or delayed or even cancelled projects — but the diversity of the firm’s practice areas in Regina and Saskatoon helps. “The [industries] that make our economy kick are generally thought to be [industries] that will come out of the recession sooner. The world still has to eat so there’s every reason to think agriculture-based industries will bounce back faster than others. The same could be said for uranium and the production of clean energy. They’re all thought to have very good fundamentals.”

Wilson says even if there are downward “blips” in these sectors, they won’t impact the province in the same way that the automotive or manufacturing sectors will in provinces such as Ontario. “I think the reality is there has been some impact but relative to other places, it has been relatively minor,” he says.

The local market continues to be “quite good” and all of his firm’s 22 lawyers have a steady stream of work, says Chris Donald, one of the managing partners of Robertson Stromberg Pedersen LLP in Saskatoon. He says the firm’s corporate commercial lawyers are busier than they were a few years ago, which he considers the bellwether test for how the economy is performing. He says commodities-based lawyers were very busy until sectors such as mining went south last year. To compensate, business has picked up on the construction and infrastructure sides.

“The work we’re doing is of a higher quality than it was a number of years ago. The transactions are more complicated,” says Donald, noting one of the firm’s lawyers has even carved out a significant niche in the class action field. He stopped just short of saying Saskatchewan’s legal sector was invincible. “Maybe the litigators might be able to say [they’re recession-proof]. When things get bad, that’s when people start suing more. Our insolvency folks will be busy in downturns. Saskatchewan has a stronger economy, there’s a whole lot going on. New businesses are coming in, the province is trying to make up the infrastructure deficit, people are moving in, towns need to allow developers to come in and build subdivisions. All of that is working to keep lawyers busy,” he says.

The Saskatchewan legal community is in a “very comfortable” position, says Keith Boyd, a partner and member of the management committee at Kanuka Thuringer LLP in Regina, because it built its base on local businesses before expanding to national and international clients. He admits there has been a slight drop off for legal services, but that’s coming off arguably an all-time high. “Our peaks and valleys aren’t far apart. During the last 18 months, I don’t think I’ve experienced as strong a demand for our services,” he says.

As positive as so many of the developments are, it’s not all wine and roses, says Gordon Wyant, Saskatoon-based partner at McKercher LLP. With population growth — the province recently topped the one-million-person mark — come problems associated with larger cities, such as crime. While that might make for negative headlines, the legal community benefits when the ne’er do wells get busy, he says. “There’s a lot of property crime with a booming economy. That attracts a lot of people who want to take advantage of those opportunities. We see growth from a legal perspective in the criminal area because more charges are being laid,” he says. “Criminal lawyers tend to be busy as the economy starts to grow and also when the economy is falling.”