Municipal Services

Our Approach

We bring a project management approach to the delivery of legal services in order to minimize costs and maximize the value that our clients realize from their legal spend. Our clients benefit from our:

• Relationship partner, single point of contact model
• Effective management and staffing of client matters

Miller Thomson offers the advantages of a strong national presence and reputation, but with all-important local knowledge and perspective that enable us to deliver the most informed and practical legal services.

Areas of Specialized Advice and Representation

• Environmental assessments and approvals
• Waste management approvals
• Labour, employment and human rights commissions/tribunals counsel
• Alternative financing structures for municipalities and their local boards
• Municipally-owned public transit
• Structuring of public private partnerships (P3s)
• IT and other specialized procurements
• Legal issues relating to utilities: telecom/cable companies, municipally-owned electricity distribution and generation, gas utilities and other occupants of municipal rights-of-way
• Land use planning and development
• Structuring of intellectual property (IP) strategies and commercialization of IP assets
• Defining, securing and defending patent and trade-mark rights
• Outsourcing of municipal services (e.g., waste and recycling collection)
• Legal support for the work of the municipal Auditor General’s office
• Compliance with new Income Tax Act obligations and Canada Revenue Agency policies for gifts and fundraising events
• Counsel to municipal legal departments
  • Contracting and procurement issues
  • Interpretation of complex provisions of federal and provincial statutes and regulations and municipal by-laws
  • Governance issues of municipalities and their local boards
  • Legal relationships between municipalities and their local boards
  • Municipal licensing issues (e.g., taxis)
  • Drafting and amending municipal by-laws
  • Negotiations and MOU/Contracts with provincial and federal governments for joint financing of major infrastructure projects
  • Defence of class actions, other major litigation and appellate litigation
  • Contaminated land and brownfield redevelopment funding Issues
  • Special projects beyond scope of legal department

Miltom Consulting, our wholly-owned consulting company, provides consulting services and manages inter-disciplinary consulting projects with other consultants (engineering, architecture, accounting, etc.).