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**Borden Ladner Gervais LLP**
	Borden Ladner Gervais LLP
Headquarters	Ottawa, Ontario; Toronto, Ontario; Montreal, Quebec; Calgary, Alberta; Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
No. of Offices	6
No. of Attorneys	750+
Major Practice Areas	General practice
Date Founded	2000 ;
Website	www.blgcanada.com

Borden Ladner Gervais LLP (abbreviated as BLG) is the largest full-service Canadian law firm. The Firm has over 750 lawyers, intellectual property agents and other professionals in offices in Calgary, Montréal, Ottawa, Toronto, Vancouver and Waterloo Region.^[1] BLG does not designate one of its offices as its headquarters, but instead is governed by a national council comprised of partners from across Canada.

In 2009 – for the third consecutive year – BLG was recognized as a “Go-To Law Firm” for Fortune 500 companies. ^[2] The Firm was also ranked number one in Canada for the number of lawyers (151) it had recognized in the 2010 edition of The Best Lawyers in Canada ^[3] and had the most number of lawyers in Canada with a Martindale-Hubbell Peer Review Rating. ^[4]

[edit] History

On March 1, 2000^[5], the law firms of Howard Mackie of Calgary, McMaster Gervais of Montreal, Scott & Aylen of Ottawa, Borden & Elliot of Toronto and Ladner Downs of Vancouver merged to create BLG. ^[6]

In July 2002, BLG strengthened its corporate securities practice with the acquisition of the Calgary-based law firm Armstrong Perkins Hudson LLP ^[7] — the then largest securities boutique in Western Canada.

In 2003, BLG added its sixth office when it was joined by the lawyers from Armstrong & Associates in Waterloo Region ^[8]. The firm was a Waterloo Region intellectual property law boutique. Recently, in January of 2008, the firm of Shortt Hanbridge Richardson and Welch joined the Waterloo Region office of BLG. ^[9]

[edit] Founding Firms

The Toronto firm Borden & Elliot was founded on January 20, 1936, by lawyers Henry Borden and Beverly Vallack Elliot ^[10]. Henry, at the outbreak of WWII, was appointed to the War Supply Board in Ottawa and in 1942, was appointed chairman of the War Time Industries Control Board ^[11]. Over the following three decades, the firm experienced rapid expansion resulting in many name changes. Eventually, the firm’s name was changed back to Borden & Elliot in 1973. At the time of the merger in 2000, Borden & Elliot employed 668 people including more than 230 professionals. It was a prominent full-service Canadian law firm and had one of the largest litigation practices in the country.

The Calgary law firm Howard Mackie was founded in 1888 and was one of the largest in Western Canada. At the time of the merger, the firm employed 150 people, including 66 professionals. ^[12]

The Montréal firm McMaster Gervais was founded in 1823 when The Honourable William Badgley opened his law practice at the age of 22. Badgley went on to become the first professor of law at McGill University and, in 1853, became the first dean of McGill’s law school ^[13]. At the time of the merger, McMaster Gervais was one of the oldest Canadian firms and employed 280 people, including 110 professionals. McMaster Gervais was a result of a 1998 merger of McMaster Meighen and Mackenzie Gervais ^[14].

The fully bilingual Ottawa firm Scott & Aylen was founded in 1952. At the time of the merger ^[15], the firm employed 168 people, including 62 professionals. The firm brought together lawyers, patent agents and trademark agents under one roof. Scott & Aylen co-founder Cuthbert Scott’s son, David W. Scott ^[16](the first non-American to be elected President of the American College of Trial Lawyers ^[17]), continues to practice at BLG’s Ottawa office today and represents the fourth successive generation of the Scott family to practice law in the Ottawa area. The other co-founder, John A. Aylen Q.C. practiced with the firm until he was 89 years old. His son, John G. Aylen Q.C. recently retired from BLG at the age of 86, just 3 years short of his father's record. John G. Aylen's son, David Aylen, is also a lawyer who practiced IP with Scott & Aylen for 15 years until he joined another firm in 1998. David Aylen is now a global IP specialist in Russia.

The Vancouver firm Ladner Downs was founded in 1911. A few years earlier, in 1909, Leon Ladner was the President of the Vancouver Law Students Society that first proposed opening a provincial law school in Vancouver, a proposal that came to fruition 36 years later when the UBC Faculty of Law opened in 1945. Leon’s son, Thomas Ladner, built and expanded Ladner Downs into one of the leading law firms in British Columbia ^[18]. At the time of the merger, the firm employed 318 people, including 110 professionals.

[edit] Key People

Sean Weir – National Managing Partner
David Scott – National Co-Chair and Past President of the American College of Trial Lawyers
Doug Mitchell – National Co-Chair
Guy Pratte – Chair of National Council, Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers
David Whelan – Regional Managing Partner, Calgary
Deborah Overholt - Regional Managing Partner, Vancouver
Frank Callaghan – Regional Managing Partner, Toronto
Marc Jolicoeur – Regional Managing Partner, Ottawa
John Murphy – Regional Managing Partner, Montréal
Patrick Foy – Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers
Gerald Ghikas – Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers
J. Bruce Carr-Harris – Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers
Alex Paterson – Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers
Frank Foran – Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers
Carole Brown - President of the Ontario Bar Association
Russell Lusk – Past President of the Canadian Bar Association

[edit] Notable Alumni

Some of the notable alumni of BLG include:

The Right Honourable Kim Campbell – Former Prime Minister of Canada
John Fraser – Former Speaker of the Canadian House of Commons
Bill Sommerville – Former Chairman of the Canadian-U.S. Committee (1988) and Former Chairman of BLG (1980-1990)
Earnie Eves – Ontario’s 23rd Premier
Howard Green – Former Cabinet Minister
The Honourable Dennis R. O’Connor
The Honourable Francis J.C. Newbold
The Honourable Randall Scott Echlin
The Honourable Gibson Gray
The Honourable Robert Sutherland
The Honourable Ellen Macdonald
The Honourable Donald S. Ferguson
The Honourable Gordon Sedgwick
The Honourable Todd Archibald

[edit] Notable Recent Deals and Suits

Acted for the issuer in the largest debt deal in the first quarter of 2009 – the $1.7-billion financing by Husky Energy Inc. ^[19]
Represented Global Copper Corp. when Teck Cominco Limited completed the acquisition of Global Copper by way of plan of arrangement for aggregate proceeds of approximately $415 million payable in cash and Class B subordinate voting shares of Teck ^[20]
Acted for Co-operators General Insurance Company in its completion of a $115 million preference share offering ^[21]
Represented ARAM Systems Ltd. when Texas-based ION Geophysical Corp. acquired ARAM, along with its affiliate Canada Seismic Rentals Inc., for $343 million ^[22]
Acted for Chartwell Master Care LP in a $62 million secured bridge credit facility ^[23]
Acted for The Bank of Nova Scotia when Labrador Mining Company Limited completed an extended and amended $50 million credit facility with The Bank of Nova Scotia ^[24]

[edit] Practice Areas

BLG specializes in the following areas of law:

Wealth Management

[edit] BLG and Community Involvement

Through the BLG Fellowship program, the Firm promotes legal research with a five-year commitment of $1.2 million in funding for research projects. One of Canada's largest donations dedicated to research at law schools, the BLG Fellowship program provides grants to top performing first-year law students, which allows them to undertake specific legal research initiatives under the direction of prominent faculty members. ^[25]

In 2003, BLG launched its Reads to Kids Program. The program involves over 400 lawyers, intellectual property agents and support staff from all of the BLG offices across Canada, who volunteer their time in elementary school classrooms giving reading assistance to children in kindergarten through to grade three. ^[26]

And since 1993, BLG has hosted the BLG Awards to honour the best university athletes in the country and promote post-graduate studies at Canadian universities. Held in conjunction with the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) organization, the BLG Awards have grown to become a gala event that is broadcast nationally on The Sports Network. And to date, BLG has contributed $140,000 in university scholarships through the BLG Awards. ^[27]

[edit] References

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^ http://www.blgcanada.com/media-centre/media-kit/background
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[edit] External links

Borden Ladner Gervais Website

Borden Ladner Gervais on Twitter

Borden Ladner Gervais on LinkedIn

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