CVCA New Member Profile: McKercher LLP

We’re excited to welcome McKercher LLP to the CVCA membership this week! The CVCA caught up with McKercher to find out more about their operations, team, and what they’re excited about.

Tell us about McKercher LLP

McKercher LLP is a regional law firm with offices in Regina and Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Our startup and venture capital group provides creative, timely and actionable legal solutions to founders and investors who want to change the world. While our core client base is in the prairies, we are trusted advisors to high-growth companies located throughout Canada.

What is McKercher LLP’s focus?

We believe in a founder-first approach to startup and venture legal services, focused on our key pillars:

• Authenticity ~ We cultivate long-term relationships with our clients over short-term gains. We are consummate professionals, but we proudly display our own personalities and worldviews when it comes to providing great legal advice.
• Curiosity ~ We ask insightful questions and are genuinely interested in the stories that gave birth to your venture. We don’t shy away from learning as much as we can about the problem you are solving, the markets you are serving, and your approach to changing the world.
• Practicality ~ We bring solutions to our clients, as opposed to simply identifying problems. We fiercely work to ensure all we do can be used immediately for real-world business purposes.

Who are some key people at McKercher LLP?

Joe Gill is the head of our firm’s technology, startup, and venture capital group. He serves as lawyer-in-residence for both of Saskatchewan’s technology incubators and accelerators (Co.Labs and Cultivator) as well as the University of Saskatchewan’s deep technology incubator (Opus). He previously co-founded a legal technology startup focused on building a collaborative lawyer-client portal for drafting, signing, and storage of legal documents.

What is McKercher LLP excited about?

We are most excited about the changing dynamic between legal advisors and clients, particularly with emerging technology solutions for everything from contract procurement to capital raising. The lawyer-client relationship is evolving and demands for efficiency in the capital raising process continue to be paramount. We look forward to seeing the evolution of the technology-enhanced practitioner.

In addition, we continue to see pressure to solve the factional legal counsel problem. While many companies and capital allocators do not require full-time legal personnel, the demand is high for lawyers with both keen legal acumen but also deep understanding of the client’s business. We are intrigued to see the changes in the traditional lines between external and in-house counsel, all to better serve clients.