3 replies to this topic

[vicks]

I'm looking to figure out where many of the major Canadian cities stand in terms of a Canadian legal market ranking. As far as I know, for size:

1. Toronto
2. Calgary

After that, I'm not sure where cities like Vancouver, Montreal, Edmonton, Ottawa, Winnipeg, etc. stand.

Also, can anyone comment on rankings based on size of the legal market versus rankings based on the "quality of the work" received?Would the cities still be ranked in the same order for both those criteria?

[john grisham]

This raises an interesting question that pervades many discussions around here:

What is "quality work"?

I've always wondered what the hell people mean when they say that. I'm in the final stretch of my articling year and I'm still not sure. It seems to me that it's such a subjective concept and yet law students and some lawyers talk about "quality work" as if it can be objectively measured. For some people people "quality work" means big corporate clients that want to complete major transactions or solve major commercial problems. For others, "quality work" has nothing to do with corporate clients (some people would much prefer to deal with a stranger than fiction $25,000 small claims file for the guy down the street). I think it really depends.

I'm assuming you're talking about the former here?

[BetterCallSaul]

With regard to the 'size' of legal markets in Canada, here are the CanLaw stats for # of practicing lawyers per region:

• BC Region:Approx 9,672
  BC 9,672
  
• North Region: Approx 567
  Yukon Territories: Approx 230
  NWT: 188
  Nunavut: 149
  
• Prairie Region: Approx 10,752
  Alberta: 7,225
  Saskatchewan: 1,686
  Manitoba: 1,841
  
• Ontario Region: Approx 29,426
  Ontario 29,426
  
• Quebec Region: Approx 12,268
  Quebec 12,268
  
• Maritimes Region: Approx 4875
  Nova Scotia: 2,193
  New Brunswick: 1,466
  Prince Edward Island: 321
  Newfoundland: 895

[vicks]

Grisham, I totally hear you - that's why I decided to put it in quotation marks, since I recognize it may mean different things to different people. What I'm looking for is bigger clients with both major corporate issues/transactions, as well as major litigation files.

BetterCallSaul, thanks for the info. I came across similar stats as well, but I'm looking for cities specifically, as opposed to regions.