OPINION: Norton Rose-Ogilvy merger could be a Canadian snowball

When you talk about countries whose legal professions have raised barriers to foreign entry and discouraged competition, most people think of India. But as The Economist pointed out recently, an equally plausible target for a charge of protectionism is Canada. Foreign lawyers seeking to practise in this country face multiple barriers and interjurisdictional mobility is relatively low. Our legal profession has not shared the national hospitality towards foreign interest seen in other industries and resources, with the notable recent exception of potash. Canadian lawyers have thrived in this relatively cloistered market for decades. So you can imagine the shock to the profession's system last month when 2,000-lawyer Norton Rose announced it had merged with 450-lawyer Ogilvy Renault - a 120-year-old firm with deep roots in vieux Montreal, a blue-chip reputation in corporate Toronto and a fledgling office in energy capital Calgary. It was a message that the global legal marketplace had finally crashed our party.