Allen & Overy is opening an office in Toronto this autumn.

A&O said the new branch, its first in Canada, would handle outbound investment work for Canadian clients and would not be competing with any local firms. Instead, A&O will continue to refer work to its network of local firms for domestic Canadian matters (lumberjack compensation claims, ice hockey fight mediations). Which is just as well. The outpost will be teeny, comprising one partner, a Canadian who founded A&O's Casablanca office, and one associate.

Senior Partner David Morley has long had an eye on the home of Celine Dion (not her actual home). In 2011 he sent fact-finders to Canada, sparking rumours of imminent mergers and poaching sprees. But nothing came of it. Pundits suggested that the firm had decided that Canada's equivalent of the Magic Circle, known as the Seven Sisters, had the market sewn up.


  David Morley yesterday

Since then Norton Rose Fulbright and Dentons have both gained a significant Canadian presence thanks to mergers. And now A&O has arrived. Its office may be tiny and it may be coming in peace, but the appearance of the Magic Circle will still give the Sisters something to think about.

A spokesman told RollOnFriday, "We look forward to continuing to work with our local relationship firms on a referral basis and strengthening our ties with the Canadian market”.
 
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