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Lawson Lundell LLP partners and clients celebrate the 10th anniversary of the law firm's Yellowknife office last month. Pictured front row, from left: Ed Patrick, Malinda Kellett, Sandra MacKenzie, Hilda Weaver, Sheila MacPherson, Michelle Jones and Luke Pathyil; back row: Brian Fulton and Keith Bergner. - photo courtesy of Lawson Lundell LLP

SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Regional law firm Lawson Lundell LLP has a lot to celebrate.

The firm is celebrating the 10th anniversary of its Yellowknife office this year, and crowning the milestone is industry recognition as the number one full-service regional law firm in Northern and Western Canada.

The award, given by national industry publication Canadian Lawyer, is based on the votes of Canadian lawyers and in-house counsel. It factored in the firms' regional service coverage and client base.

It is the second time that Vancouver-headquartered Lawson Lundell - which also has an office in Calgary - has topped the list for the region, in part because of its Yellowknife office.

"Lawson is strong in a number of different areas and from a Northern perspective, I think we're quite strong," said partner Sheila MacPherson, whose career practising law in the North stretches back to 1988 with the Cooper Johnson law firm, before Cooper Johnson was merged with Lawson Lundell 10 years ago.

"We've always had a strong, strong Northern base and I think we've always been very strong in serving our Northern clients," said MacPherson, who is also presently the law clerk of the legislative assembly of the NWT.

In addition to giving its Yellowknife office access to a staff of more than 100 across the firm with legal specializations in everything from business and tax services to natural resource law, Lawson Lundell has been successful in the North because of the flexibility granted to its Yellowknife office, MacPherson added.

"Lawson has recognized in the North you can't always carry on a big law firm practice. We have to practise law a bit differently here because we have so many small businesses and individuals that require legal services, we can't all represent the big companies and that can't be the sole part of any Northern lawyers practice," she said.

"Lawson has let me and the other lawyers I work with continue to practise in areas that don't necessarily fall within the traditional scope of big law firm practice.

"They have been flexible enough to recognize that the markets are different in Northern Canada, and creative enough to allow us to practise areas of law that we're interested in and that still serve the needs of all our clients and of Northerners," she said.

"I feel quite strongly about that because I think as lawyers, we have an obligation to help serve the people in our communities, to do what I call mom-and-pop law. We can't all represent the gigantic companies."

Voter comments taken into consideration for the Canadian Lawyer recognition highlighted Lawson Lundell's client service and quality personnel, according to the publication.

The firm was also voted number one full-service regional law firm in 2010.

Lawson Lundell has 95 employees at its Vancouver office, six in Calgary and three in Yellowknife.

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