Bar Talk
Toronto lawyer and mediator Randy Pepper has been trying to get Bay Street lawyers to put their cutthroat, competitive spirits to work for a good cause later this month. And he warns it won't be a walk in the park.
When Mr. Pepper worked for global law firm Baker & McKenzie's Hong Kong office in the late 1980s, he took part in a competitive event called the Trailwalker, which started as a British army exercise and became a charity event. It was a gruelling 48-hour trek and a team-building exercise like no other that became popular with the city's law firms.
Now, he has been drumming up interest on Bay Street for Ontario's version of the Trailwalker, which raises money for the development charity Oxfam and is in its third year. To be held the weekend of July 22, it's a two-day, 100-kilometre race along the Ganaraska Trail System, starting at Snow Valley Ski Resort near Barrie and ending in Orillia.
Some competitors camp at the halfway point, Mr. Pepper said, but not everyone.
"Some people just walk right through. They just start, and walk, and go, and finish. Those are pretty driven folks," he said.
Teams of four must raise $2,500 in pledges to take part. This year, a team from McMillan LLP is expected to walk the walk, Mr. Pepper said, although others were hoping to sign up before registrations closed. (And it is not only lawyers – anyone is welcome. About 120 teams are expected.)
A final note: It is rough on the feet. Mr. Pepper said he had to break the dress code in the office after the race: "I wore a pair of sandals for the week after. Sandals and a suit was the way to do it."
On the move
Borden Ladner Gervais LLP has scored a tax lawyer from Osler Hoskin & Harcourt LLP in its Calgary office, as Patrick Lindsay joins BLG as a partner.
Labour and employment litigator Loretta Bouwmeester, who has also worked with aboriginal bands in the Northwest Territories, has left Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP in Calgary for Miller Thomson LLP.
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