Miller Thomson

Miller Thomson LLP

Headquarters	Scotia Plaza Toronto, Ontario, Canada
No. of offices	12
Offices	Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Saskatoon, Regina, London, Kitchener-Waterloo, Guelph, Toronto, Vaughan, Markham and Montreal
No. of attorneys	550+
No. of employees	1200+
Major practice areas	Corporate/Commercial, Commercial Real Estate, Condominium, Patents & Trademarks, Immigration, Health, Labour and Employment, Intellectual Property, Litigation, Family Law, Oil and Gas, Private Client Services, Charities and Not-for-Profit, and Mergers and Acquisitions
Key people	E. Peter Auvinen (Chairman), Mr. Chris Issar (Chief Financial Officer), Gerald Courage (Acting Chief Operating Officer)
Date founded	1957
Company type	Limited liability partnership
Website	www.millerthomson.com

Miller Thomson LLP is a full-service national law firm established in Toronto, Ontario, Canada in 1957.^[1] The firm provides a complete range of business law, advocacy, and personal legal services to Canadian and international corporations, entrepreneurs, institutions, governments and not-for-profits.

Miller Thomson is currently Canada's seventh largest law firm^[2] with over 550 lawyers and 12 offices located in Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Saskatoon, Regina, London, Kitchener-Waterloo, Guelph, Toronto, Vaughan, Markham, and Montréal.^[3]

Notable firm alumni include former Canadian Prime Minister, The Right Honourable John Turner, P.C., C.C., Q.C.^[4] (retired Partner),^[5] Supreme Court of Canada Justice Russell Brown, who was associate counsel to the firm prior to his appointment, and former Alberta Minister of Justice & Attorney General Jonathan Denis.^[6]

History[]

Miller Thomson was founded on Canada's 90th birthday – July 1, 1957 – by six lawyers who decided to leave a large firm and establish their own firm which was then known as Miller, Thomson, Hicks & Sedgewick. The original partners were J. A. F. Miller, Q.C., J. H. Thomson, Q.C., R. V. Hicks, Q.C., R. M. Sedgewick, C. W. Lewis, and J. Wilfred Healy.

Today, their namesake has grown and evolved into one of the largest law firms in Canada. Through a series of strategic mergers, the firm has expanded to 12 offices and over 550 lawyers.^[7]

1850s[]

1858 – W.H. Bowlby opens his practice on King Street, in what would become Kitchener-Waterloo (formerly known as Berlin).

1870s[]

1876 – Bowlby joins with Edwin Perry Clement and Frederick Colquhoun.

1890s[]

1895 – Balfour Moss opens in Regina.

1898 – Robert Lachlan McKinnon begins practising in Guelph.

1900s[]

1902 – John M. Kearns founds a new firm in Arthur, Ontario.

1906 – Kearns moves his firm to Guelph.

1950s[]

1950 – Two Guelph firms forge a partnership to become Kearns McKinnon.

1951 – A. Hans Swinton and Douglas E. Andrews open Andrews & Swinton in Vancouver.

1952 – Pouliot Mercure opens in Montréal.

1953 – Cook Duke Cox opens in Edmonton.

1957 – Miller, Thomson, Hicks & Sedgewick opens in Toronto.

1980s[]

1981 – Miller Thomson creates a new office in Markham, Ontario.

1981 – Balfour Moss establishes a Saskatoon office.

1987 – Cook Duke Cox opens a new office in Calgary.

1990s[]

1990 – Kitchener-Waterloo’s two oldest law firms —Clement, Eastman, Dreger, Martin and Meunier and Sims, McKinnon, Varey, Griggs and Trafford — merge to create Sims, Clement and Eastman.

1992 – Merger with Kingsmill Jennings (Toronto)

1993 – Merger with Wheatley MacPherson (Toronto)

1999 – Merger with Cook Duke Cox (Edmonton and Calgary)

2000s[]

2000 – Merger with Sawers, Liswood, Hickman, Bullivant, Dolan, Watts (Toronto)

2000 – Merger with Swinton & Company (Vancouver and Whitehorse)

2001 – Merger with Roberts & Baker (Vancouver)

2002 – Merger with Sims Clement and Eastman (Kitchener-Waterloo)

2003 – Merger with Kearns McKinnon (Guelph)

2005 – Merger with Pouliot Mercure (Montréal)

2006 – Miller Thomson establishes its London, Ontario office.

2008 – Miller Thomson celebrates 150 years of history in the Region of Kitchener-Waterloo.

2010s[]

2011 – Merger with Balfour Moss (Regina and Saskatoon)

2013 – Miller Thomson celebrates 115 years of history in the Guelph community.

2015 – Miller Thomson celebrates 120 years of history in Saskatchewan.

2017 – Miller Thomson opens its 12th office in Vaughan, Ontario.

Rankings & Recognition[]

Miller Thomson LLP lawyers are consistently ranked among the leading practitioners in the country. In the 2020 edition of The Best Lawyers in Canada,^[8] over 130 Miller Thomson lawyers were recognized for their expertise in 47 areas of law, including seven who were awarded “Lawyer of the Year”.^[9]

The firm is recognized in the 2020 edition of the highly regarded Chambers Canada Guide,^[10] earning top Band 1 ranking in Charities/Non-profits and Agribusiness: Agriculture & Food Products and noted as a leading firm in the areas of Aboriginal Law, Advertising & Marketing, Construction, Employment & Labour, Environment and Retail.^[11] The firm also ranked Band 1 for Private Wealth Management Law – Canada^[12] in the latest edition of the Chambers High Net Worth Guide (2019).^[13]

Innovative & Leading Law Firm[]

Open Plan Concept Offices[]

Miller Thomson’s Vancouver office relocated to a hybrid open plan concept office space in 2016,^[14] located above the Nordstrom department store in the redeveloped Pacific Centre building.

Miller Thomson sought to have space reflect what the firm stands for and what sets it apart from the competition. "We see ourselves as part of the community and we take energy from collaborating with clients and from their resulting success. So our office had to cater to our clients," said Mike Walker,  Office Managing Partner for Vancouver at the time of the move. "We also wanted to be more prominent in the legal market itself with space that would get the competition talking about us and pique the interest of great lawyers at other firms with a similar perspective, energy and entrepreneurial spirit."^[15]

The firm’s newest location in Vaughan, which opened in the summer of 2017, has followed with a similar open-concept workspace.^[16]

Areas of Practice[]

With 12 offices across the country, Miller Thomson is built to provide the most comprehensive Canadian business and legal help. The firm provides a complete range of business law, advocacy, and personal legal services in English and French:

List of Areas of Practice^[17][]

Strategic Affiliations[]

Miller Thomson is a member of Multilaw, a global legal network with 90 member firms in more than 100 countries.^[18]

In 2012, Miller Thomson entered an affiliation agreement with leading French business law firm FIDAL, solidifying a “best friends” relationship first initiated two years prior.^[19]

References[]

External links[]

• Miller Thomson's website
• Miller Thomson's Twitter account
• Miller Thomson's LinkedIn profile