Our counsel work consists of two types. The first type is referrals from lawyers who do not engage in civil litigation, or in matters in which the referring firm has a conflict. On referrals, we confine our services to advocacy and bill the client directly, since we are exclusively a civil litigation firm, and once the litigation ends in a settlement involving a commercial transaction, that work is transferred back to the referring counsel. This type of counsel work allows the referring lawyer to service the litigation needs of a client without fear of losing the client to a full service law firm.

The second type of counsel work is performed for lawyers who wish to remain the lawyers of record, but would like to engage counsel occasionally, or throughout the proceedings. In this type of counsel work, the referring lawyer’s firm would be billed for our services unless the client agreed to pay us directly. Once again, the referring lawyer services the litigation needs of the client, and maintains a relationship with the client.

For either type of counsel work, we keep the instructing lawyer informed. We frequently meet with the client at the office of the instructing lawyer. Referring counsel will appreciate that this differs from other Toronto firms where the litigation lawyers rarely attend on their instructing lawyers.