Marco Mendicino is a former prosecutor and Liberal cabinet minister who served as Prime Minister Mark Carney’s chief of staff for five months until late July.Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press
Legal Moves is a regular roundup of job changes at Canada’s law firms.
As the prime minister’s chief of staff, Marco Mendicino was at the table with senior White House officials and developed personal relationships with the individuals involved in trade negotiations.
He watched Mark Carney and Donald Trump interact away from the cameras, witnessing what he describes as genuine chemistry and respect between the two leaders.
In a period of intense uncertainty for Canadian businesses, Mr. Mendicino is on a short list of people who have real insight into what needs to happen to get a Canada-U.S. trade deal signed.
And as of Monday, Mr. Mendicino will be bringing that inside knowledge to Cassels Brock & Blackwell as a senior counsel and strategic adviser.
Mr. Mendicino, a former prosecutor and Liberal cabinet minister who spent a decade representing the Toronto riding of Eglinton-Lawrence, served as Mr. Carney’s chief of staff for five months until late July.
In that time, he says, he was able to watch the relationship between Mr. Carney and Mr. Trump develop.
“You’ve heard the President say that the prime minister is a tough negotiator. You’ve heard the prime minister say that the president is a transformational leader. Those aren’t just pleasantries,” he said. “I saw chemistry in the form of mutual respect; from the standpoint of understanding what makes the economy go. I think Trump respects Carney’s business acumen.”
In Mr. Mendicino’s view, the best chance of a trade deal happening is if the two men are at a table together. Asked about Mr. Trump’s fury over an Ontario government anti-tariff ad that featured comments from the late Republican president Ronald Reagan, Mr. Mendicino said Ottawa is at a delicate point in the negotiations, where every word is being closely scrutinized.
“Premiers are right to stand up for their provinces. The tariffs are real, they’re impacting jobs and creating uncertainty in the markets,” he said. “The best shot we have at a breakthrough is when the Prime Minister and the President are in the room together, zero in on the key priorities, and hammer out a deal that works for both countries.”
Mr. Mendicino’s move to Cassels is a coup for the firm.
“Bringing Marco on to advise our clients is a tremendous opportunity for Cassels,” said Cassels‘s managing partner, Kristin Taylor. “He has a unique skill set that brings together law, business, government – it offers insight into how important institutions work in Canada.”
Deputy managing partner Noble Chummar added: “It’s not every law firm that has someone who has represented Canada at the highest levels of diplomacy and has sat at the table with current Fortune 500 CEOs and world leaders.”
Mr. Mendicino starts Nov. 3.
Corporate firms across Canada have bolstered their ranks with new partner hires in a range of practice areas in recent months, including in litigation, intellectual property and tax law.
At Miller Thomson, the firm added Max Muñoz as a partner in the commercial litigation group and Danielle Joel to the firm’s estates and trusts litigation group. Said Ms. Joel: “I have worked on Bay Street for 25 years so when I decided I wanted a change, I knew what I was looking for. Miller Thomson has the best platform in the country for the estates and trusts litigation and the private client work that I do.”
Meanwhile, McCarthy Tétrault has continued to build out its new charities and not-for-profit practice – a highly specialized and niche area that involves sophisticated tax and compliance advice – with the addition of Troy McEachren to the Montreal office.
Aird & Berlis has welcomed Kate Costin to its litigation and construction groups. Ms. Costin had been with a boutique litigation firm for nearly a decade. She said, “I received incredible training, but felt like this was a path where I could be on my feet litigating interesting issues, at a firm that felt committed to my growth in the long term.”
Last month, Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt announced Mat Brechtel was joining the firm’s intellectual property group in Vancouver. “Watching Osler’s growth in Vancouver, in particular with some of the things that I do – especially in the tech space – it seemed like a perfect fit,” Mr. Brechtel said.