Fifty years ago Heward Stikeman and Fraser Elliott began the law firm that bears their name as a tax boutique with a new approach to tax and business law. Their fundamental principle was not to explain to clients why the law prohibited them from doing what they wanted to do, but instead to use the law to find a means of accomplishing their objectives. Over the years Stikeman Elliott has attracted an extraordinary range of talented young lawyers and given them every chance to develop their potential. As the firm has grown from a tiny enterprise to a national and global organization, its lawyers have become public figures, both within the legal world and beyond, both in Canada and on the international stage. Richard Pound recounts the events and transactions, some successful, others less so, that have shaped the firm he has worked with for thirty years. From the last Canadian case argued before the privy council to the structuring of corporate giants; from the protection of individual rights to war crimes inquiries; from board room to court room to public forum, Stikeman Elliott has become an integral part of the legal, business, political, and social fabric of Canada.
In the process Pound examines the personalities of many of the lawyers who have made it possible for Stikeman Elliott to attain its pre-eminent position and reveals the firm to be a significant Canadian institution.