The history of Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt from pioneer beginnings to modern international legal practice is, in its own way, a reflection of the history of Ontario. The firm name perpetuates the memory of Britton Bath Osler, founding partner and one of the finest courtroom lawyers of his time. B.B. Osler was a son of the manse. His father, Canon Featherstone Osler, raised B.B., and three remarkable brothers in the years before Confederation in the Anglican rectories of Bond Head, Ontario and, later, Dundas, Ontario. In the years between 1850 and World War I, B.B. and his brothers, Mr. justice Featherston Osler, Sir William Osler (the finest doctor of his time) and Sir Edmund Osler (the wealthiest financier in the province) shaped, to one degree or another, Toronto, Ontario and Canada.

B.B. Osler began to practice law in Toronto in the 1880's—though the firm name in its present form dates from around 1916. B.B. had been a leading counsel in courts in England and the United States as well as in Canada. The firm, with this background, was always rich in international contacts. Much of its early growth was related to an international corporate clientele. Two of the senior partners of the firm from the 1930's to the 1960's had, in fact, been born in the United States and educated at Princeton University.

From its earliest years the firm built up a rich tradition of service to the profession (four partners have been the chief officers of the Law Society of Upper Canada). Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt can now claim a full century of devotion to the concept of a "full-service law firm" in which all forms of legal assistance are offered to every type of client.
 

A group of partners representing several specialties: front row (I to r): J Edgar Sexton, Q.C.; Julie Y Lee; Deborah M. Alexander; John M. Coyne, Q.C.; second row (l to r): Edward T McDennott; Barbara J. McGregor; Robert F Lindsay, Q.C.; Laurence D. Hebb, Q.C, John F Petch, Q.C.; and Brian M. Levitt.

Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt has joined in the explosive growth of Toronto as a business and commercial centre in the last two decades. In 1960 the firm was made up of 27 lawyers. By 1970 around 50 people practiced with the firm and by 1980 about 100. At present approximately 200 practice with the firm making it one of the largest firms in the country. With so many lawyers it is, of course, able to make use of individual areas of specialization.

Part of its recent growth has come through amalgamation with other firms. One of the most significant of these amalgamations was the merger of Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt and the Ottawa firm of Herridge, Tolmie in 1985. The Herridge, Tolmie firm had a distinguished history of its own. It was founded shortly after World War II by William Herridge, a distinguished patent and trade mark lawyer and diplomat who was the brotherin-law of Prime Minister R.B. Bennett. With that amalgamation came the establishment of the firm's first Ottawa office.
The firm continues to explore new ways to provide legal services to our national and international clientele. In 1987 an office was opened in London, England, which places particular emphasis on international financial transactions and securities problems.

Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt has been in the forefront of legal practice for over a hundred years and looks forward to a new century of expanding services in Canada and abroad.