Stuart “Kip� Cobbett is the chief operating officer and Montreal managing partner of 500-lawyer Stikeman Elliott LLP. His firm has recently become involved in a UN program with 14 other corporate law firms from around the world that are looking to identify whether and how national corporate law principles and practices foster corporate cultures respectful of human rights. He also talks to Canadian Lawyer about business and the current economic situation.

 

How did Stikeman Elliott become involved in the UN-led program?

 

We are focusing much more on community involvement and pro bono initiatives than we have in the past. We’ve identified it as a priority for the firm. Historically, we’ve had a lot of people involved in various activities but in the last couple of years we’ve felt we needed to bring a bigger focus to it, so we’re paying more attention to it. One of our partners — a very good partner and a very senior partner, Ed Waitzer, a former chairman of the firm — suggested that this would be a good thing for us to get involved in. We looked at it and we thought, ‘yes.’ Corporate social responsibility is a topic that has taken a lot of energy over the last little while and it’s important, so we thought this was a good project for us to get involved in.

 

At the top of everyone’s mind at the moment is the economy. How do you see it affecting Stikeman Elliott?

 

Like everybody else, there’s been a decrease in the volume of work. Thankfully, we’re still reasonably busy but it’s an odd time because there’s virtually no visibility into the future. The last couple of years have been so busy that you could basically see three, four, five, six months out that you were going to be busy. We just don’t have that kind of sense at the moment. It’s all very much week to week and month to month. There’s very little going on in the capital markets. Some of the financial institutions are doing equity issues to shore up their balance sheets but there’s precious little else going on in the corporate finance sector.

 

Are the offices in different countries having similar or different experiences?

 

We have offices in three other countries: [New York in the U.S.], London in England, and a small office in Sydney, Australia. In terms of worldwide slowdown I would say that London and New York have probably been the worst hit as they are global financial centres. But our offices are slightly differently positioned than some firms: a) they’re relatively small, and b) a big part of their function is a representational function to generate work for Canada so they’re not doing much work on the ground in London or New York except where that work relates to Canada. But they’re affected by it, there’s no question things have slowed down in New York and London.

 

Is the recession having an impact in terms of hiring and retaining staff, particularly associates?

 

For us at the moment, it’s business as usual. In our Montreal office, we are embarking on our annual student recruiting program. It starts in March. We will be treating it as we have every other year. We expect to make the same number of offers to students and hire the same number of students as we always have because we’re going to come out of this recession. So whether we come out of it in six months or a year and a half, who knows, we’re always going to need good young lawyers. We’re not planning any hiring cutbacks at the moment nor are we anticipating any layoffs. And we’ve told our people that.

 

Is there a sense of anxiety among lawyers?

 

Everybody is feeling a little anxious whether you’re a lawyer or a municipal worker, whether you’re a journalist, no matter what you’re doing. There’s no question we’re living through an economic situation such that hasn’t been seen for many years. Everybody is feeling a little on edge but thankfully, so far, things are continuing reasonably well for us.