Biglaw, Canada

Canadians Know How To Stimulate The Legal Economy

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Have you noticed that every time we run a story about the legal market in Canada there are a bunch of commenters telling us how great things are for lawyers in the great white north? Well, now we know why. The American Lawyer reports that the Canadian government has been pitching in to help Canadian and American law firms:

According to records obtained by The Lawyers Weekly, the Canadian government spent a record $57.1 million on outside law firms in the 2008-09 fiscal year. It’s the most Canada has ever paid out to private law firms in one year and represents a 34 percent increase from legal fees paid in 2007-08. (All expenditures have been converted from Canadian dollars at the rate of $1 Canadian = $ 0.936 U.S.)
Weil, Gotshal & Manges led the pack of outside legal advisers with $7.7 million in billings.

That is some change I can believe in. When global warming fully kicks in Canada is going to be awesome.
Why the jump in government work for outside counsel? The answer is something so obvious that liberals and libertarians have been talking about it for years.
Details after the jump.


The reason for Canada’s jump in legal work is so perfectly simple that it would never work in the United States:

The single-most important reason for the jump in outside legal fees is attributed to a 30 percent jump in drug prosecution billings, according to the article. In Canada, outside lawyers with more than ten years of experience can work as crown agents, where they report to the sovereign government in the province where they operate.
Several law firms in British Columbia that handle drug prosecutions-including Murchison, Thomson & Clarke and Jones & Co.–reaped more than $2.8 million in fees commensurate with the increase in work. British Columbia–known for its skiing, sightseeing, and political parties dedicated to the legalization of cannabis–is Ground Zero in Canada’s drug war.

Apparently, the legal work comes from prosecuting drug smugglers trying to get marijuana out of British Columbia and trying to take cocaine back to Canada.
In other words, it is a totally brilliant strategy for economic growth across a number of sectors — including the legal field. Why didn’t we think of that?
Seriously, when will U.S. realize that cannabis could well be the way out of this entire economic crisis?
Canada Pays Record $57 Million to Law Firms in 2009 [Am Law Daily]
Few hurdles for Canada smugglers to get choppers [Associated Press]
Earlier: Confident In Canada? Maybe Not This Year.

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