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| Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP |
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Profile:
For more than 150 years, Blakes has proudly served many of Canada’s and the world’s leading businesses and organizations. The Firm has built a reputation during that time as both a leader in the business community and in the legal profession – leadership that continues to be recognized to this day. Thanks to our clients and the challenging legal work they generate, Blakes is recognized as "Canadian Law Firm of the Year" for 2007/08 by Chambers and Partners, one of the world's leading publishers of legal directories and trade periodicals. We also consistently rank as one of the top Canadian firms on the Bloomberg, Thomson Reuters and mergermarket M&A league tables in terms of transactional value or number of deals for Canadian announced transactions. For more representative matters see individual practice pages.
For the sixth consecutive year, Blakes has been named one of Canada’s best employers by Mediacorp Canada Inc., and is the only law firm to receive this recognition six years in a row. Blakes has also been chosen as one of “Greater Toronto’s Top 50 Employers” for 2008.
Our international capabilities have been enhanced by our charter membership in Lex Mundi, the world's largest non-exclusive referral network of independent law firms with member firms in 160 jurisdictions. This affiliation allows Blakes, whose clients conduct business worldwide, to arrange superior legal counsel virtually anywhere as needed.
We have more than 550 lawyers in offices in Montréal, Ottawa, Toronto, Calgary, Vancouver, New York, Chicago, London, Beijing and an office in Shanghai through our China Alliance. Serving a diverse national and international client base, our integrated office network provides clients with access to the Firm’s full spectrum of capabilities in virtually every area of business law. Whether an issue is local or multi-jurisdictional, practice-area specific or interdisciplinary, Blakes handles transactions of all sizes and levels of complexity. It is our culture and philosophy to work closely with clients to understand all of their legal needs, and to keep them apprised of legal developments that may affect them. We provide relevant legal services expertly, promptly and in a cost-effective manner to assist clients in achieving their business objectives. |
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History:
From a small firm of just two lawyers to more than 500 in nine offices worldwide, 2006 marked a rare milestone for any organization — 150 years of successful growth and market leadership on behalf of its clients around the world.
1856 Blakes was launched after Edward Blake was called to the bar and entered into partnership with Stephen M. Jarvis in Toronto. Soon it was Blake & Blake when brother Samuel Hume Blake joined.
1867 Blakes incorporates what would become Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, one of the Firm’s most valued and oldest clients.
1878 Blakes is the first business in Canada to install a telephone system that provided a direct link to the offices of the Ontario Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court at Osgoode Hall.
1882 Zebulon Aiton Lash joined Blakes and built a corporate law practice that earned him a reputation as “the foremost Canadian corporation lawyer” of his time and as one of “The Ten Greatest Canadian Lawyers Ever,” according to Canadian Lawyer magazine.
1885 With 15 lawyers, Blakes was already among the largest and leading corporate law firms in the young Canadian Confederation.
1894 Blakes helped start the legal career of Clara Brett Martin, the first woman lawyer in Ontario and the British Empire. After articling at Blakes, she was called to the bar in 1897.
1930 Blakes moves to Toronto’s 25 King Street West, a 34-storey, 145-metre structure that was the tallest building in the British Commonwealth for more than 30 years.
1953 With 24 lawyers and an international reputation as one of Canada’s leading cross-border advisers to business, the Firm’s name was changed to Blake, Cassels & Graydon.
1970 In the decade when Canada formally joined the G7 of leading industrial nations and hosted the Montréal Summer Olympics, Blakes had grown to 66 lawyers.
1985 Blakes became one of Canada’s first “national law firms” after opening an office in Calgary, where the Firm continues to be a leading adviser to the energy sector.
1986 Blakes was among the first Canadian law firms to expand internationally with an office in London, England, which extended the Firm’s reach throughout Eastern and Western Europe.
1989 Blakes continued to expand west with an office in Vancouver that has since grown to be a leading adviser to natural resources companies, financial institutions, technology businesses and governments.
1990 Blakes opens its Ottawa office, an invaluable link for clients interfacing with lawmakers, federal agencies and the region’s thriving technology sector.
1998 The Blakes Beijing office opened to serve clients involved in the ever-increasing flow of East-West commercial trade. Today, Blakes is the only major Canadian law firm with an office in China.
2001 Blakes launched its office in Montréal, a leading Canadian centre for banking, financial services, securities, mergers and acquisitions, energy and information technology businesses.
2004 Blakes expanded south of the border to better serve cross-border clients with the establishment of offices in New York and Chicago. The Chicago office is the first office to be opened in that city by a Canadian law firm.
2006 The B.C. Court of Appeal decision, Reliant Capital v. Silverdale Development quotes Edward Blake in his capacity as a member of Parliament speaking on the "evils of the extraction of penalties for arrears in interest payments." The quote is from a parliamentary debate in 1880. |
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