“Fasken Martineau DuMoulin, another top corporate firm best known for its natural resources expertise, has long had a strong Vancouver tech group. Partner Gary Ott has represented some of the best-known Vancouver startups, assisting BuildDirect in recent financings and Layer 7 Technologies Inc. when it was acquired last year for $155 million by CA Technologies. In Toronto, the firm brought on Jeff Dennis, a lawyer and serial entrepreneur, as counsel in 2012. His primary task is building bridges between Fasken and the startup community.
The firm also offers a yearlong program for startup clients; for $250 a month, they get a basic suite of services, including an IP strategy session; two hours of legal consultation per month; either incorporation or trademark registration; and access to a bunch of legal document templates. To make the fees work for both the firm and clients, the firm relies on associates, Dennis says, with partners playing largely a supervisory role. For each type of legal question, says Dennis, whose past ventures included finance, solar and real estate startups, ‘I have an associate that lives and breathes this stuff.’”
