Heenan Blaikie

The Making and Unmaking of a Great Canadian Law Firm

In 1973, three idealistic young lawyers in Montreal established Heenan Blaikie. It would become one of Canada’s highest-profile law firms, counting former prime ministers, premiers, cabinet ministers, and Supreme Court justices in its ranks. It was like a family, according to many who worked there. But it was a dysfunctional family. In 2014, the firm’s dramatic collapse became front-page news.

Heenan Blaikie is the fascinating story of a respected law firm that buckled under weak governance and management.

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Reviews for Heenan Blaikie

  • “An incredible story of a titanic competition in a great law firm between the best of legal professionalism and the most seductive of market imperatives. Part Agatha Christie, part Icarus, part Bonfire of the Vanities, and all painfully magnetic. Adam Dodek is a brilliant storyteller.”

    Rosalie Silberman Abella, retired justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, and Samuel and Judith Pisar Chair, Harvard Law School

  • “I had trouble putting Adam Dodek’s book down. It is a compelling and informative read, probably the first of its kind to carefully document and critically analyze the evolution of a law firm from its origin to its eventual collapse.”

    Robert Lapper, KC, professor – David and Dorothy Lam Chair, Law and Public Policy, University of Victoria

  • “Dodek has written a very lively and readable book, full of large and colourful personalities, pithy quotations, and dramatic incident. But it does not just tell a fascinating and somewhat tragic story – it is also full of analysis of the deficiencies of governance and management that were longstanding at Heenan Blaikie but that became especially problematic after the mushroom growth of the firm in the 1990s and later.”

    Philip Girard, professor, Law, Osgoode Hall Law School, York University

  • “Adam Dodek tells the story of the people of Heenan Blaikie in the context of the evolution of Canadian law firms and the practice of law. The making and unmaking of Heenans provides a cautionary tale of the collision between often-laudable personal goals, incoherent collective strategy and governance, and market realities. This is an interesting and instructive account.”

    Malcolm Mercer, chair, Law Society Tribunal (Ontario), and adjunct professor, Osgoode Hall Law School

  • "A well-researched account of an incredible law firm…an incredible and one-of-a-kind account of the growth and failure of a professional services firm that will no-doubt be studied in law firms and business schools going forward."

    Erin Durant, Durant’s Rants, Hot takes from an Ontario law firm | durantbarristers.substack.com

  • “While this is a non-fiction academic book, astonishing stories and sensational incidents are interspersed between the scholarly examination conducted by Dodek. Stories of broken relationships, backstabbing, rogue lawyers, arms deals, multiple questionable ethical breaches, scandals, and more - Dodek’s unvarnished obituary of Heenan Blaikie has it all.”

    Erin C. Cowling, Entrepreneur, Consultant, Speaker, Writer, & Former Lawyer | cowlinglegal.com

  • Stories we want to see on the big screen: “This true story of the collapse of one of Canada’s highest-profile law firms is full of the kind of scandal and drama that would make any TV producer perk up their ears, if you ask us!”

    Marianna Schultz | readlocalbc.ca

  • "I love the mixture of law, business, politics, and history! And, of course, the research is awesome."

    Penny Collenette, lawyer, former senior director in the Prime Minister’s Office, and Order of Ontario recipient

In the media

“A Little More Conversation” with Ben O’Hara Byrne
October 30, 2024
A Little More Conversation podcast episode

National Magazine
15 October 2024
The demise of Heenan Blaikie

Heenan Blaikie | Amazon Best Seller

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Heenan Blaikie | Amazon Best Seller |

Heenan Blaikie is available now.
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Upcoming events

November 12

Ottawa
11:30am - 1pm
Faculty of Law, Room 302, uOttawa

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December 5

OBA Book Club
8pm EST (online)

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November 20

Toronto
5pm - 7pm
Ben McNally Books, 108 Queen Street East

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November 5

Vancouver
5:30pm
UBC Robson Square Downtown

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January 16, 2025

Montreal
Lord Reading Society

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