TORONTO (September 22, 2011) – Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP (Blakes), one of Canada’s leading business law firms, today announced that it has been awarded nine 2011 Lexpert Zenith Awards: Celebrating Corporate and Law Firm Social Responsibility (CSR).
“Blakes has had a long-term commitment to CSR and pro bono,” said Brock Gibson, the Firm’s Chair. “Congratulations to the lawyers who were honoured, as well as the many others who commit their time and efforts to these worthwhile projects.”
“Once again, Blakes has won the highest number of Zenith awards, as selected by our independent panel of judges,” said Jean Cumming, Editor-in-Chief at Lexpert magazine. “The depth of their commitment to corporate social responsibility is outstanding.”
Blakes has won the 2011 Lexpert Zenith Awards for the following categories. Particular teams or projects are bolded.
Mid-Career Mentorship
Brad Berg
Mentorship Senior
Judy Wilson
Pro Bono by Individual Lawyer
Melanie Sanchez
Firm Legal Team – Intellectual Property
Regulatory Team
Elizabeth McNaughton, Alice Tseng, Laura Weinrib, Wendy Mee, Jennifer Smith and Dara Lambie
Firm Legal Team – Litigation
Small Claims Duty Counsel Project
Paul Schabas, Brad Berg, Anne Glover and Rahat Godil
Innovative Student Program-Non-Law-Student Innovation
LAWS/Blakes Mentoring Program
Saad Ahmad, Jessica Bullock, Richard Turner, Andrew Spiro and Jillian Swartz
Action or Plan that Advances Retention of Women in Law
Women at Blakes Network
Marie-Hélène Constantin, Dawn Jetten, Holly Reid, Melanie Gaston and Joan Chambers
CSR by Law Firm that Impacts Children – Regional
Children’s Rights Council
Gary Daniel, Tariq Remtulla, Athar Malik and Antonio Turco
Pro Bono by Region
Vancouver Hospice Society
Debra Finlay, Jeff Merrick, Bahar Hafizi, Bavia Bisetty, Emily Yuen, Khaled Shariff
About the Lexpert Zenith Awards Ceremony
The event was held at the Royal York Hotel in Toronto on September 21, 2011. Lexpert, the magazine for lawyers, honoured leading Canadian law firms, in-house departments and law students who are committing their time, skills and mentorship to a Corporate and Law Firm Social Responsibility.
About Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP
At Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP, we serve a diverse national and international client base and our integrated office network provides clients with access to the Firm’s full spectrum of capabilities in virtually every area of business law. Blakes has offices across Canada and in New York, Chicago, London, Bahrain, Beijing and associated offices in Al-Khobar and Shanghai. For the third consecutive year, Blakes was named “Canada’s Law Firm of the Year” by Who’s Who Legal (2011) and “Law Firm of the Year: Canada” in the PLC Which Lawyer? Awards (2010). For the last four and a half years, Blakes was the busiest Canadian M&A law firm, according to Bloomberg, mergermarket and Thomson Reuters’s league tables.
