WT Montreal LLP will become a fourth location in Canada for WT, adding to its existing offices in Vancouver, Calgary and Toronto, creating a national insurance services offering which will enable the firm to develop deeper strategic relationships with its clients.
Since December 2022, WT has been part of the DWF Group, a global provider of integrated legal and business services.
This partnership brings together two teams with deep expertise in insurance law and litigation, further strengthening their ability to support insurance clients across Canada and internationally. It also enables the Montreal team to access DWF's market-leading claims management and adjusting expertise, including through its North American teams based in Toronto, Vancouver and Chicago.
The Montreal team consists of 16 lawyers, including nine partners, together with a further 12 business support colleagues.
Following the addition of the Montreal team, WT will have 35 partners and more than 275 people in total. Since December 2022, it has been part of the DWF Group, a global provider of integrated legal and business services. DWF has more than 4,500 people globally and operates from 35 global locations. It is one of the world's leading providers of legal and business services to the insurance industry, with around 2,000 people in its global Insurance Services division.
The Montreal team will formally join WT on 1 January, 2025.
Danny Shugarman, Country Managing Partner for WT said: "We look forward to welcoming our new colleagues in Montreal. We are excited about the prospect of bringing the strengths of WT to the unique market of Montreal and the province of Quebec, and will continue to respect the culture and traditions of this market and our incoming team.
"This move will further build our expertise and strengthen our resources to support clients nationally and internationally. Our combined offering will be even better equipped to address the demands of our insurance clients, in handling claims, risk management, coverage disputes and litigation."
Alexandre Paris will become managing partner of WT Montreal LLP. Commenting on today's announcement, Alexandre said: "By combining with WT, we will be able to offer our clients a wider range of services, handle larger and more complex cases and provide support across more locations. It also represents a great opportunity for growth as we seek to build on our success by tapping into DWF's global presence to further strengthen our relationships in the Canadian domestic market, the North American market, as well as the Lloyd's market."
"In addition to strengthening our expertise, this combination offers strong cultural alignment. It will allow our team to remain firmly committed to its roots in Montreal, continuing to provide the personalised service our clients have come to expect, while also creating the opportunity for us to deliver that support at scale."
This move follows the recent announcement from DWF that it has reached an agreement to recruit the London market team of the Australian law firm, Hall & Wilcox. The move will result in nine partners joining DWF.
