Gowlings

Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP,Gowlings, is one of Canada's largest full-service law firms, with over 750 professionals practising in 10 cities in Canada, Russia, China^[1] and the United Kingdom.^[2]

Gowlings' current Chair and Chief Executive Officer is R. Scott Jolliffe.

History

Gowlings traces its origins to the firm Henderson & McVeity, which was founded in Ottawa in 1887.^[3][4] As the firm grew over the next century, its name passed through numerous permutations, but three figures remained dominant: Gordon Gowling, George and Gordon Henderson.^[5] In the 1980s, the firm expanded beyond its traditional Ottawa base, establishing offices in Toronto, Kitchener, and Moscow. Starting in the mid-1990s, Gowlings methodically solidified a national platform through a succession of mergers with other law firms in Vancouver, Hamilton, Calgary, Montréal, Toronto and Kanata.^[6] In order to avoid certain complications created by the mergers, the firm officially adopted the simple brand name, "Gowlings" (which had long been in informal use).^[7]

Practice areas

Proximity to government accounts for the diversity^[8] and non-transactional bias of Gowlings' legal specialties. While the practices of the so-called Seven Sisters firms are weighted predominantly towards Business law,^[9] this is only one of the three pillars^[10] (and an area in which the firm is planning growth)^[11] which constitute the core of Gowlings' practice. The other two are Advocacy and Intellectual Property law. Other notable strengths include technology, international trade, environmental, energy, financial services, government relations and administrative law.

The firm's various practices are broadly organized into eight Industry Groups: Energy; Financial Services; Government; Infrastructure; Life Sciences; Manufacturing and Distribution; Mining; and Technology.

Gowlings milestones

1970 - The Firm assumes the name Gowling and Henderson (after founders Gordon Gowling and Gordon F. Henderson) in Ottawa
1980 - Gowling and Henderson open a Toronto office
1986 - Gowlings merges with Simmers, Harper and Jenkins in Waterloo
1987 - Gowlings celebrates 100 years
1989 - Gowlings merges with the Toronto firm Strathy, Archibald Seagram to form Gowling, Strathy & Henderson
1992 - Gowlings opens an office in Moscow serving Russia, the CIS and the Baltic states
1994 - Gowlings opens an office in Vancouver
1995 - Gowlings opens its Hamilton office
2000 - Gowlings arrives in Calgary, merging with Code Hunter.
2000 - Gowlings merges with Lafleur Brown of Montréal, and Vancouver’s Montpellier McKeen VarabioffTalbot and Giuffre to become Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP.
2001 - Gowlings merges with Calgary-based Ballem MacInnes LLP
2001 - Gowlings merges with Smith Lyons LLP, enhancing IP and business law capabilities, and positioning Gowlings as the second largest law firm in Canada
2006 - Gowlings opens an office in Kanata
2008 - Gowlings establishes new corporate governance model with an Executive Committee and Board of Trustees
2008 - Gowlings opens an office in London, U.K.
2011 - Gowlings opens the Gowlings International Inc. Beijing Representative Office in Beijing, China

Notable (past and present) members of the firm include

• Leonard Walter Brockington (1888–1966). Founding chairman of the CBC, 1936-1939^[12]
• Gordon F. Henderson (1912–1993). President of the Canadian Bar Association, 1979–1980;^[13] Chancellor of the University of Ottawa, 1991-1993^[14]
• Roy McMurtry (1932- ). Attorney-General of Ontario, 1975–1985 and Chief Justice of Ontario, 1996-2007 ^[15]
• Ray Hnatyshyn (1934–2002). 24th Governor-General of Canada, 1990-1995^[16]
• Ian Scott (1934–2006). Attorney-General of Ontario, 1985-1990^[17]
• Donald Mazankowski (1935- ). Deputy Prime Minister of Canada, 1986-1993^[18]
• Martin Cauchon (1962- ). Minister of Justice (Canada) and Attorney General of Canada, 2002–2003 ; Minister of National Revenue (Canada), 1999-2002^[19]
• Lawrence Cannon (1947- ). Minister of Foreign Affairs (Canada), 2006-2008 and Stephen Harper's former Quebec lieutenant^[20][21]

References