The law firm of Baker & McKenzie is celebrating its 50th anniversary for its office in the city of Toronto. The law firm, which is based in the United States, has had an office in Toronto since President John F. Kennedy was in the White House. The office has not done much celebrating yet, but has recently made some lateral hires. Kent Beattie, a real estate attorney from Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg, has joined the firm in Toronto. Beattie has worked on cases involving banks and major corporations for clients.
The office in Toronto is holding a meeting of its global senior leadership. This includes Eduardo Leite, the chairman of the executive board. In recent months, Baker & McKenzie has made other lateral hires and has yet to hire back any of the articling students that worked for them previously.
The impact that the office on Bay Street has been very low because it continues to concentrate on serving the firm of Baker & McKenzie’s global clients and United States clients. The law firm of Baker & McKenzie offers Canadian lawyers that practice Canadian law, which is not like other United States law firms that operate in Canada.
The law firm operates globally and employs over 3,800 attorneys. The firm has offices in 43 countries and revenue of $2.27 billion in 2011. The firm opened an office in South Africa in May after it launched offices in Doha and Istanbul this past year.