Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

-based law firm founded in 1862. Osler is considered one of the

Seven Sisters (law firms) The Seven Sisters refers to a historical collection of seven law firms with offices across Canada, majority of which have head offices in Toronto, Ontario. History The term "Seven Sisters" was originally coined by John Alexander Black, founder of L ...

, a historical collection of seven law firms with offices in Toronto, Ontario.

History

The firm was founded in 1862 by

Britton Bath Osler Britton Bath Osler, KC (19 June 1839 – 5 February 1901) was a Canadian lawyer and prosecutor. The eldest of three prominent brothers (the other two being Sir Edmund Osler and Sir William Osler), he was born in Bond Head, Upper Canada. Bac ...

, the eldest of three famous brothers — the other two being

Sir William Osler Sir William Osler, 1st Baronet, (; July 12, 1849 – December 29, 1919) was a Canadian physician and one of the "Big Four" founding professors of Johns Hopkins Hospital. Osler created the first residency program for specialty training of phys ...

, one of the four founding professors of

Johns Hopkins Hospital The Johns Hopkins Hospital (JHH) is the teaching hospital and biomedical research facility of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, located in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. It was founded in 1889 using money from a bequest of over $7 million (1873 mo ...

, and Edmund Boyd Osler, an early president of the

Dominion Bank The Dominion Bank was a Canadian bank that was chartered in 1869 and based in Toronto, Ontario. On February 1, 1955, it merged with the Bank of Toronto to form the Toronto-Dominion Bank, which is known as the present-day TD Bank Group. History ...

(now,

TD Bank Toronto-Dominion Bank (french: links=no, Banque Toronto-Dominion), doing business as TD Bank Group (french: links=no, Groupe Banque TD), is a Canadian multinational banking and financial services corporation headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. ...

). Osler would later join D'Alton McCarthy's Toronto partnership, subsequently known as McCarthy, Osler, Hoskin and Creelman. It was McCarthy's firm, Boulton & McCarthy, in

Barrie, Ontario Barrie is a city in Southern Ontario, Canada, about north of Toronto. The city is within Simcoe County and located along the shores of Kempenfelt Bay, the western arm of Lake Simcoe. Although physically in Simcoe County, Barrie is politically i ...

, which eventually became the firm now known as

McCarthy Tétrault McCarthy Tétrault LLP is a leading Canadian law firm that delivers integrated business law, litigation services, tax law, real property law, labour and employment law nationally and globally through offices in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Mont ...

, reflecting the common heritage of the two firms. McCarthy, Osler, Hoskin and Creelman became a leading law firm in Toronto. In 1968, Osler became the first large corporate law firm in Canada to admit a woman as a partner,

Bertha Wilson Bertha Wernham Wilson (September 18, 1923April 28, 2007) was a Canadian jurist and the first female puisne justice of the Supreme Court of Canada. Before her ascension to Canada's highest court, she was the first female associate and partner at ...

, who went on to become the first female justice appointed to the

Supreme Court of Canada The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC; french: Cour suprême du Canada, CSC) is the Supreme court, highest court in the Court system of Canada, judicial system of Canada. It comprises List of Justices of the Supreme Court of Canada, nine justices, wh ...

. Osler died in 1900, and the firm would eventually, in 1916, adopt the current name of Osler, Hoskin & Harcour

References

External links

Corporate website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Osler, Hoskin and Harcourt Companies based in Toronto Law firms established in 1862 Law firms of Canada 1862 establishments in Ontario Canadian companies established in 1862