Heenan Blaikie: The Making and Unmaking of a Great Canadian Law Firm

Uncovers the complicated history of Canadian law firm Heenan Blaikie.

In 1973, three young lawyers established Heenan Blaikie. It would become one of Canada’s highest-profile law firms, counting former prime ministers, premiers, and Supreme Court justices in its ranks. It was like a family, according to many who worked there. But it was a dysfunctional family. In 2014, the firm’s dramatic collapse became front-page news.

Based on extensive interviews with firm lawyers and legal industry insiders, Heenan Blaikie is the story of a respected law firm that ultimately buckled under weak governance and management. The firm seemed to punch above its weight: bilingual, humane, and national with international aspirations. However, hidden beneath its façade of a kind, inclusive culture were accounts of workplace bullying, challenges for women and other minorities, and sexual harassment. In Heenan Blaikie, Adam Dodek, an unbiased outsider, situates the firm’s evolution within the context of a changing legal profession and society, producing an account that is gripping from beginning to end.

Adam Dodek is professor in the Faculty of Law at the University of Ottawa. He is the author of In Search of the Ethical Lawyer; The Canadian Constitution, Third Edition; and Solicitor-Client Privilege. He is also a director of the Canadian Association for Legal Ethics and the Canadian Legal Information Institute and a past governor of the Law Commission of Ontario.