The Seven Sisters refers to a historical collection of seven law firms with offices across Canada, the majority of which have head offices in Toronto, Ontario.[1]
History
The term "Seven Sisters" was originally coined by John Alexander Black, founder of Lexpert (previously owned by Thomson Reuters and now owned by Key Media[2]). At the time, the Seven Sisters dominated the Canadian M&A legal advisory rankings. However, by 2006, Black stated "the moniker may have run its course and that some people argue the Seven have shrunk to two or possibly three."[3] Later that year, The The Globe & Mail reported the Seven Sisters term was no longer valid, explaining that "as the Canadian pool of major companies boils down to a thin concentrate, the upper legal tier has also shrunk." It noted that "most observers agree the reigning top players are McCarthy Tétrault, Stikeman Elliott, Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt and Blake, Cassels & Graydon."[4] In 2014, The National Post reported "the Chambers Global rankings for Canadian law firms confirm that it's time to retire the notion that "Seven Sisters" dominate Canadian law firms."[5] As of 2024, only five of the original seven have become national law firms in Canada and feature in The American Lawyer global rankings – the aforementioned four plus Torys LLP.
From Single-office Corporate Boutiques to National Champions
Since the end of the Cold War, the Canadian corporate legal market has undergone significant consolidation and reorganisation in order to adapt to Canada's shrinking business community, the integration of Canada into the wider North American economy, and the liberalisation of services marketsworldwide. The decision by the Supreme Court of Canada in Black v Law Society of Alberta and the concomitant 1989-90 merger of Toronto's McCarthy & McCarthy with Montreal's Clarkson Tetrault, Calgary's Black & Company, and Vancouver's Shrum Liddle & Hebenton served as a catalyst for the Canadian legal sector's "big bang." Thus far, Canadian partnerships had been limited in their ability to practice law outside their home provinces; the Sisters, for the most part, had operated as single-office corporate boutiques.[12][13][14][15]
Amidst all of these structural changes in the market, only three of the Seven Sisters underwent mergers — the aforementioned McCarthy in 1989–90,[40] Toronto's Davies Ward & Beck with Montreal's Phillips & Vineberg in 2000[41] and Toronto's Tory & Tory with New York's Haythe & Curley in 2000[42][43][44] — whilst the remainder decided to grow organically. Notably, Calgary's Bennett Jones abandoned three-way merger negotiations with Tory & Tory a month before the announcement of its merger deal with Haythe & Curley, deciding to go it alone.[45]
Unique among the Seven Sisters, Goodmans reverted to the Sisters' single-office boutique model in 2015 when it spun off its Vancouver office —the Toronto firm originally known as Goodman & Goodman had previously been in "alliance" with the Montreal firm Phillips & Vineberg before the latter firm's merger with Davies Ward & Beck in 2000.[46][47][48] In the mid-1990s, Toronto's Osler ended its own short-lived "association" with Montreal's Ogilvy, which had been "the largest law firm in the British Commonwealth," culminating in each firm entering the other's home market.[49]
In 2011, the Sisters were presented with a unique opportunity to "go global" amidst talk of creating a pan-English financial union to rival the Americans. Subsequent to the 2007 merger of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) with Euronext — itself a combination of continental Europe's leading bourses — the Toronto Stock Exchange (TMX Group) and the London Stock Exchange (LSE Group) proposed their own merger in February 2011. The combined entity, to be known as LTMX Group, would have created a trans-Atlantic bourse with the scale and scope to compete globally, particularly in the mining and energy sectors.[58][59][60][61][62][63][64][65][66][67]
At the time, The Globe and Mail reported that TMX Group was being advised by Torys and Magic Circle law firm Allen & Overy, while LSE Group was being counselled by Osler and London's Freshfields. The LTMX integration offered Toronto and London's leading capital markets' advisors — namely the Seven Sisters and the Magic Circle — with their own opportunities to merge and form trans-Atlantic champions better able to compete with New York's legal powerhouses. While the LSE-TMX merger was ultimately rejected by shareholders in June 2011, Lexpert noted that when Torys "entered the Calgary market with its own greenfield in March 2011, the street cast the deal as the penultimate step in making itself attractive for a global suitor (Allen & Overy LLP, given the two firms' past co-mandates, was the favourite)," with the industry publication emphasising that "if a Canadian law firm wants to be part of an international law firm, they have to be in Calgary." In 2013, The Lawyer reported that another Magic Circle firm Linklaters would not expand its "alliance" into Canada, even though it had entered the Australian market the previous year.[68][69][70][71][61][72][73][74][75]
In the decade since the proposed Anglo-Canadian alliance collapsed, the Magic Circle have continued to seek opportunities across the Atlantic — favouring the U.S. over its northern neighbour. Freshfields successfully managed to enter the highly competitive U.S. corporate bar through greenfields, while Allen & Overy completed a precedent-setting, trans-Atlantic merger with New York-founded Shearman & Sterling in 2024. Linklaters subsequently noted that it was "open to mergers in its pursuit of U.S. growth." Clifford Chance had sealed its own U.S.-U.K. merger with New York's Rogers & Wells in 2000.[76][77][78][79][80][81][82][83][84][85]
The Seven Sisters have yet to exhibit the same degree of growth and global diversification that the Magic Circle have since the 2011 LSE-TMX proposal. According to The American Lawyer, "Toronto has the fifth largest legal market on the continent, valued at almost $22 billion, after New York, Washington, D.C., L.A., and Chicago" making it an attractive location for in-bound legal services investment and a strong home base for out-bound expansion.[86][87]
Lexpert publishes an annual ranking of law firms by Canadian legal headcount. Many of the law firms included in the list also have offices practicing non-Canadian law that are not included in the below chart (i.e. Torys in New York, Fasken in Johannesburg, and Gowling in London).[88]
The American Lawyer Global 200 - Canadian Law Ranking
The 2024 edition of The American Lawyer's ranking of global law firms by revenue included the top dozen law firms in Lexpert's headcount ranking for the first time. The American Lawyer ranking also includes a number of international law firms with offices practicing Canadian law (i.e. DLA, Baker McKenzie, Mintz Levin, and Cozen O'Connor).[89][90][91][92][93][94][95]