 | |
| Headquarters | Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
|---|---|
| No. of offices | 7 |
| No. of attorneys | 685 (2022) [1] |
| Key people |
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| Date founded | 1856 |
| Founder | Edward Blake |
| Company type | Limited liability partnership |
| Website | www.blakes.com |
Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP (Blakes) is an international corporate law firm with offices in Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Calgary, Vancouver, New York City, and London.
Blakes was launched in 1856 after Dominick Edward Blake was called to the bar and entered into partnership with Stephen M. Jarvis in Toronto. [2] Soon it was Blake & Blake when brother Samuel Hume Blake joined.
In 1867, Blakes incorporated what would become Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. The bank remains one of the firm's oldest clients. In 1878, Blakes was the first business in Canada to install a telephone system that provided a direct link to the offices of the Ontario Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Canada at Osgoode Hall.
In 1882, Zebulon Aiton Lash joined Blakes and began building a corporate law practice. [3] By 1885, with 15 lawyers, Blakes was among the largest corporate law firms in the young Canadian Confederation.
In 1894, Clara Brett Martin articled at Blakes. She was called to the bar in 1897, becoming the first woman lawyer in Ontario and the British Empire. [4]
In 1953, the firm's name was changed to Blake, Cassels & Graydon. [5]
In 1998, the firm opened an office in Beijing. [6]
In 2003, Blakes created the Daily Bread Toronto Law Firm Challenge, [7] which engages a number of Toronto law firms to raise money for the Daily Bread Food Bank.
In 2012, Blakes donated C$383,000 to the Fondation du Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal (CHUM) and the McGill University Health Centre Foundation's (MUHC) joint corporate campaign to raise funds for university hospitals. [8]
In 2013, Blakes assisted the 160 Girls project, an initiative promoted by non-profit organization The Equality Effect, achieve a landmark victory where Kenyan law enforcement officials were ordered to investigate and prosecute crimes of sexual violence. [9]
In 2017, Blakes launched Nitro powered by Blakes, a program that provides access to legal services for emerging technology companies. [10]
Sir William Mulock was a Canadian lawyer, businessman, educator, farmer, politician, judge, and philanthropist. He served as vice-chancellor of the University of Toronto from 1881 to 1900, negotiating the federation of denominational colleges and professional schools into a modern university.
Dominick Edward Blake, known as Edward Blake, was the second premier of Ontario, from 1871 to 1872 and leader of the Liberal Party of Canada from 1880 to 1887. He is one of three federal permanent Liberal leaders never to become Prime Minister of Canada, the others being Stéphane Dion and the latter's immediate successor Michael Ignatieff. He may be said to have served in the national politics of what developed as the affairs of three nationalities: Canadian, British, and Irish. Blake was also the founder, in 1856, of the Canadian law firm now known as Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP.
Timothy John Murphy is a former Canadian politician and was the chief of staff of the Prime Minister's Office under Paul Martin's government. He is currently CEO of McMillan LLP, and chair of the Windsor–Detroit Bridge Authority.
Peter Wardell Hogg was a New Zealand-born Canadian legal scholar and lawyer. He was best known as a leading authority on Canadian constitutional law, with the most academic citations in Supreme Court jurisprudence of any living scholar during his lifetime, according to Emmett Macfarlane of the University of Waterloo.
Place Ville Marie is a large office and shopping complex skyscraper in Downtown Montreal, Quebec, Canada, comprising four office buildings and an underground shopping plaza. The main building, 1 Place Ville Marie, was built in the International style in 1962 as the headquarters for the Royal Bank of Canada. While RBC's corporate headquarters and the majority of its management operations have been based in Toronto's Royal Bank Plaza since 1976, Place Ville Marie remains RBC's head office, a distinct title from its corporate headquarters. It is a 188 m (617 ft), 47-storey, cruciform office tower. The complex is a nexus for Montreal's Underground City, the world's busiest, with indoor access to over 1,600 businesses, numerous subway stations, a suburban transportation terminal, and tunnels extending throughout downtown. A counter-clockwise rotating beacon on the rooftop lights up at night, illuminating the surrounding sky with up to four white horizontal beams that can be seen as far as 50 kilometres (31 mi) away. This beacon is not considered as a NAVAID for aviation purposes.
Clara Brett Martin was a Canadian lawyer. She opened the way for women to become lawyers in Canada by being the first in the British Empire in 1897.
McCarthy Tétrault LLP is a leading Canadian law firm that delivers integrated business law, litigation services, tax law, real property law, labour and employment law nationally and globally through offices in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Montréal, Québec City, London (UK), as well as New York City. McCarthy Tétrault LLP is one of the Seven Sisters law firms. Among the Seven Sisters, the reigning top firms are McCarthy Tetrault LLP, Stikeman Elliott LLP, Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP, and Blake Cassels & Graydon LLP.
Joseph Schull, OC was a Canadian playwright and historian who wrote more than two dozen books and 200 plays for radio and television.
Lang Michener LLP was a Canadian full-service national law firm, once employing over 200 lawyers with offices in Toronto, Vancouver, Ottawa, and Hong Kong. On January 1, 2011, Lang Michener and McMillan LLP combined, taking the name McMillan LLP.
McMillan LLP is a Canadian business law firm serving public, private and not-for-profit clients across various industries in North America and around the world. McMillan LLP is the only national Canadian law firm with an office in Hong Kong, in addition to its offices across Canada in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Ottawa and Montréal. The firm has industry groups in different sectors such as technology, energy, oil and gas, mining, construction and infrastructure, automotive, and transportation.
St. James' Cemetery and Crematorium is a historic cemetery in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the oldest cemetery in Toronto that is still in use, having opened in 1844. It was originally the burial ground for the Cathedral Church of St. James, but it later became non-denominational. The main entrance to the cemetery is located at 635 Parliament Street, north of Wellesley Street East. Just to the west is the St. James Town neighbourhood, which is named after the cemetery.
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.
Hewitt Bernard, was a Canadian lawyer, militia officer, editor, and civil servant.
Zebulon Aiton Lash, KC was a Canadian lawyer, civil servant, and businessman.
Samuel Hume Blake was a Canadian politician from Toronto.
Philip Slayton is a Canadian lawyer, academic, and author. He has published several books about law in Canada, including Lawyers Gone Bad: Money, Sex and Madness in Canada’s Legal Profession.
Michael Copeland is a Canadian businessman and sports executive who has served as Chief Executive Officer of Woodbine Entertainment Group since October 2023. He was the president and COO of the Canadian Football League from 2013 to 2015 and was the president and CEO of the Toronto Argonauts from 2016 to 2018.
Paul B. Schabas is a judge of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice.
Sir Walter Gibson Pringle Cassels was a Canadian lawyer and judge. He was the first President of the Exchequer Court of Canada from 1920 until his death in 1923.
Attorney General of Ontario v Mercer is a Canadian constitutional law decision of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in 1883, at that time the highest court of appeal in the British Empire, including Canada.