36 years on, Prichard takes up Torys on a job offer
Robert Prichard, the former Torstar CEO and University of Toronto president, turned down an articling job at Torys LLP to enter academia in 1974. But on Tuesday, the firm announced that, after 36 years, the job offer was still open, with a slight promotion to chairman.
"It's taken me a long time to get here," Mr. Prichard said in an interview. " ... They were a little taken aback when I phoned up last week and asked, 'Is the offer still open?' "
Torys' managing partner Les Viner will continue in his current post as the firm's chief executive officer, while Mr. Prichard takes on the newly created role of chairman. He will represent the firm, work with its corporate clients, and huddle with Torys' top brass on the firm's strategy.
The men go way back: Mr. Viner was Mr. Prichard's student when he taught labour law at U of T in 1980.
"I taught Les, which explains some of the challenges that Torys [has had]," Mr. Prichard joked in a conference call with Bar Talk and Mr. Viner. "I've come here to provide some remedial instruction." Mr. Prichard, who left the post of publisher of the Toronto Star under a cloud - a combination of layoffs, a plunge in the company's stock, and his $9.6-million severance - took over the Province of Ontario's Toronto-area transportation agency Metrolinx in 2009. From the start, it was seen as a temporary move. He will remain the Metrolinx board's part-time chairman.
POTASH BONANZA
Every big Bay Street law firm wants in on the race for Saskatoon-based Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc., which is facing a $38.6-billion (U.S.) hostile takeover bid from Australian mining behemoth BHP Billiton Ltd. With other potential buyers in China or elsewhere said to be circling, there are billable hours to be had.
A few are already deep into the game. BHP's Canadian counsel is Blake Cassels & Graydon LLP. The lead lawyers on the case are David Jackson and Jeffrey Lloyd, Calvin Goldman and Robert Kwinter.
For Potash Corp., which is casting about for a white knight as it tries to hold off BHP with a poison pill, its Canadian lawyers are Stikeman Elliott LLP's William Braithwaite, John Ciardullo, Susan Hutton and Lawson Hunter.
