This year’s list of Toronto Life’s 50 most influential Torontonians includes two lawyers.
The city’s top power brokers include cabinet ministers, banking executives, global pop stars and corporate mavens.
No lawyer cracked the top 10, but Robert Prichard of Torys LLP made number 14 and Alan Lenczner of Lenczner Slaght Royce Smith Griffin LLP sits at 27.
Prichard’s stock took a tumble this year — in 2012, he made the top five. The drop, according to Toronto Life, is based on the lackluster performance of Metrolinx, the public transportation agency Prichard oversees. After issuing a report to the province on how to ease commuter congestion in Toronto, Premier Kathleen Wynne (number two on the list, by the way) ignored its findings and ordered a new panel.
Lenczner, on the other hand, jumped thirteen spots, after his recent courtroom victory in the Rob Ford conflict of interest case. Plus, as the team at Toronto Life notes, Lenczner has agreed to represent a group of Amazon villagers “as they try to enforce an $18-billion judgment made against Chevron in an Ecuadorian court” — a case that has been called “the biggest lawsuit in the world.”
Meanwhile, Clayton Ruby — Lenczner’s opponent in the conflict of interest case — is off the list entirely, after finishing 38 in 2012.
You can check out last year’s list here and the 2013 edition in the December issue of Toronto Life.