Cognition and Ogilvy Renault Offer A Unique Legal Solution to Entrepreneurs

Toronto, May 25, 2010 – Cognition LLP and Ogilvy Renault LLP are working together to offer a unique legal solution to emerging entrepreneurs and companies. Through their shared office in the MaRS Centre, a Toronto-based innovation hub, Cognition and Ogilvy Renault offer no-cost legal consultations to entrepreneurs that are part of the MaRS incubator and advisory programs.

“We’re ready to invest some of our time in these small companies because we want them to succeed. If they become clients later, that’s a bonus. But for now, we’re happy just to help them,” says Cognition co-founder and partner Joe Milstone.

Cognition is a pioneer of an alternative legal services model which provides start-up companies with their own dedicated in-house counsel on an on-demand basis. Ogilvy Renault is a leading full-service business law firm with offices in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, Quebec, Calgary and London, England.

Companies will benefit both from Cognition’s extensive start-up expertise and the specialized and full-service expertise of top-ranked Ogilvy Renault in areas including life sciences, intellectual property, technology, cleantech, securities, M&A, business, employment, litigation and tax among others. The Cognition-Ogilvy Renault team will ensure that client needs are met at every stage of their growth.

“We are always seeking to bring value to our clients – whether an established company or a start-up,” says Richard Sutin, Co-Chair of Ogilvy Renault’s Cleantech practice. “Working with Cognition allows us to offer a truly unique service with an incredible value proposition for the MaRS community and beyond.”

According to Statistics Canada, only one-third of small business survives over five years. Start-ups face many challenges and often require mentorship, entrepreneurial education and a network of professional services, including legal services, geared towards their unique needs. MaRS, one of the world’s leading innovation centres, is committed to improving the commercial outcome of new enterprises. Partnerships with a range of top-ranked service providers – from legal to public relations – are a valuable offering for MaRS clients.

“Practical and cost-effective legal services are often an integral but absent ingredient for early-stage science and technology companies,” says MaRS Vice-President of Business Services, Don Duval. “By having a partnership with Ogilvy Renault, our entrepreneurial ventures have the opportunity to access quality legal services at no cost.”

Cognition and Ogilvy Renault will provide regular drop-in hours for MaRS companies who wish to take advantage of free legal consultation on issues that may include structuring contracts, employment issues or how to properly prepare and protect their IP for commercialization.

“We think we can make a difference,” says Rubsun Ho, co-founder and partner of Cognition. “We have worked extensively in the high-tech sector and we are very familiar with the issues facing these young companies.”

“It’s a truly incredible value for a MaRS start-up to be able to access both Ogilvy Renault’s expertise as a leading Bay Street law firm and Cognition’s innovative legal services model,” added Richard Sutin.

Cognition and Ogilvy Renault are launching regularly scheduled office hours in the MaRS Centre every Tuesday from 1-4pm beginning June 1st. Feel free to drop in during scheduled hours or contact Sameer Dhargalkar to book an appointment.

For more information, contact:

Rubsun Ho
Cognition LLP
T (416) 348.0313 ext. 102
E rho@cognitionllp.com

Sameer Dhargalkar
Ogilvy Renault LLP
T (416) 216.3934
E sdhargalkar@ogilvyrenault.com

About Cognition LLP
Cognition LLP has re-engineered the legal services model to strip away overhead in order to provide relevant, in-house legal advice at more reasonable rates. By using only senior lawyers who have worked on Bay St. as well as in-house at leading Canadian companies, Cognition can provide more meaningful legal advice to growth companies and take the time to better understand their businesses. Cognition has over twenty lawyers based in Toronto, Ottawa and Waterloo.

About Ogilvy Renault LLP
Ogilvy Renault LLP is a full-service law firm with close to 450 lawyers and patent and trade-mark agents practising in the areas of business, litigation, intellectual property, and employment and labour. Ogilvy Renault has offices in Toronto, Montréal, Ottawa, Québec, Calgary, and London (UK), and serves some of the largest and most successful corporations in Canada and in more than 120 countries worldwide. Find out more at http://www.ogilvyrenault.com