Patrick Fitzgerald with the law firm Cox & Palmer at the company's office in Halifax on April 30.Darren Calabrese/The Globe and Mail
Legal Moves is a monthly roundup of job changes at Canada’s law firms.
Patrick Fitzgerald, a corporate lawyer with a specialty in technology law, is the new chair of Halifax-based Cox & Palmer.
In his own practice he spends a lot of time working with tech start-ups, and he hopes to bring that experience, as well as his expertise on governance issues, to the chair position.
About six years ago, Cox & Palmer created the role of innovation partner for Mr. Fitzgerald and tasked him with assessing how new processes and software advancements could make life easier for the firm’s lawyers and clients. One silver lining of the pandemic, he said, was that the new work-from-home realities accelerated many of his plans.
“Because everybody had to move to remote work and lean more heavily on technology, a lot of the resistance to change and to new ways of doing things was – I wouldn’t say eliminated – but it made it a lot easier for us,” he said.
Among the changes that the firm began looking into was new case management and document software that would enable staff to work remotely. “So you don’t have to be sitting at your desk to do your work,” he said.
As chair, Mr. Fitzgerald said he’s interested to see what new technological advancements – particularly with respect to artificial intelligence – the firm could utilize.
Mr. Fitzgerald was born in Toronto but moved to a small Acadian town on the southwestern tip of Nova Scotia in 1975. He began his career with Cox & Palmer, which has offices in four provinces, 24 years ago.
Recently, Mr. Fitzgerald says the firm has seen an increase in deal activity in Atlantic Canada, perhaps because of the proposed changes to the capital gains tax. In Halifax in particular, he’s also seeing a lot of real estate work, insolvencies and transactions related to energy, particularly with respect to wind and new hydrogen.
Cox & Palmer began looking for a new chair after the previous chair, Stephanie Hickman, was appointed as a judge with the Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador.
In April, McCarthy Tétrault announced that tax adviser Drew Morier was joining its National Tax Group as a partner based in Toronto and Calgary. “Drew has built a strong reputation among Canada’s leading international tax planning experts. He is the perfect complement to our already market-leading national tax practice,” Raj Juneja, the co-head of the firm’s tax group, said in a release. Mr. Morier had been with Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt for more than 22 years.
Also this month, Miller Thomson said Seon K. Kang had joined its Montréal office as a partner. Ms. Kang is a commercial lawyer, with expertise in areas such as private equity, project financing, and acquisitions. Montreal managing partner Fadi Amine said in a release: “She is an incredible addition to our team and brings diverse experience to the firm.” Ms. Kang was previously with Dentons Canada.
At Loopstra Nixon, Mark Lieberman joined the firm on April 1 as a partner in the Commercial Litigation group. Mr. Lieberman specializes in the enforcement of security and collection of receivables. Previously, he had been a partner at Kronis, Rotsztain, Margles, Cappel.
Meanwhile, Founders LLP, a boutique corporate law firm created by a group of former Goodmans lawyers, has brought on Jean Anderson as senior counsel.
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Robyn Doolittle