Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt

Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP
Headquarters First Canadian Place
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
No. of offices 5
No. of attorneys 470+
Date founded 1862
Company type Limited liability partnership
Website
www.osler.com

Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP is one of Canada's largest business law firms practising nationally and internationally from its offices in Canada and New York. It is one of Bay Street's "Seven Sisters". Clients include industry and business firms in all segments of the market and at various stages in the growth of their businesses.

History

The firm was founded in 1862 when Britton Bath Osler began practicing law in Dundas, Ontario. He would later move to Toronto to join D'Alton McCarthy's Toronto partnership, subsequently known as McCarthy, Osler, Hoskin and Creelman. It was McCarthy's firm, Boulton & McCarthy in Barrie, which eventually became what is now Canada's largest law firm, McCarthy Tétrault, which gives both firms a common heritage. McCarthy, Osler, Hoskin and Creelman quickly became one of the leading lights of Toronto’s legal world, with Osler himself acting in some of the highest profile criminal trials of the day, including the Treason Trial of Louis Riel in 1885, in which he helped lead the prosecution.

Britton Bath Osler died in 1900, and the firm would eventually in 1916 adopt the name Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt which is the name it continues to be known by to this day.

Areas of practice

The firm has a diverse range of practice areas:

  • Asia
  • Banking and Financial Services
  • Climate Change and Emissions Trading
  • Competition/Antitrust
  • Corporate Finance and Securities
  • Corporate Governance
  • Discovery Management
  • Employment and Labour Law
  • Environmental, Regulatory and Aboriginal
  • Executive Compensation
  • Income Funds and REITs
  • Intellectual Property
  • International Trade
  • Insolvency and Restructuring
  • Latin America
  • Litigation
  • Marketing and Distribution
  • Mergers and Acquisitions
  • Municipal
  • Nightlife Law
  • Outsourcing
  • Pensions and Benefits
  • Privacy
  • Project Finance
  • Public - Private Partnerships / Alternative Financing and Procurement
  • Real Estate
  • Regulatory Investigations
  • Research
  • Taxation
  • Translation
  • Trusts and Estates
  • U.S./Cross-Border

Ranking

With over 470 lawyers, Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP is one of the country’s ten largest law firms, and is one of only two Canadian firms ranked top tier in five of six categories in the 2011 edition of IFLR 1000: The Guide to the Leading Financial Law Firms.[1] Clients are quoted as saying that Osler is an “outstanding firm and the lawyers give exceptional service,” in Chambers Global: The World’s Leading Lawyers for Business 2011.[2]

In 2011, the firm ranked first in the Thomson Reuters league tables for Canadian mergers and acquisitions, advising on more dollars' worth of announced deals than any of its domestic competitors in the first nine months of 2011. In all, Osler’s lawyers were retained for 49 Canadian deals worth a total of $24 billion (U.S.), or 21 per cent of the new market.[3]

Notes

  1. ↑ "Osler Hoskin & Harcourt - North America - IFLR1000 - Financial Law Firm Rankings". IFLR1000. Retrieved 2012-10-28.
  2. ↑ "Editorial - Chambers and Partners - Corporate/M&A: Canada". Chambers and Partners. Retrieved 2012-10-28.
  3. ↑ "Osler Tops Deal Chart Three Quarters into 2011 | News & Resources | Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP, Business Law in Canada". Osler.com. 2011-10-05. Retrieved 2012-10-28.

External links