Ernst & Young welcomes former Lenczner Slaght partner Shara Roy as chief legal counsel

Former Lenczner Slaght partner Shara Roy has joined the legal department at Ernst & Young. She will gradually transition into the role of chief legal counsel and member of the executive committee, replacing Doris Stamml who is set to retire in June.

Since joining Lenczner Slaght in 2011, Roy has honed her skills in complex commercial litigation including professional liability, securities litigation, class action suits and restructuring and insolvency. She was drawn to EY by the strong focus that the Canadian firm places upon innovation and finding new ways of delivering services to clients.

EY is also very committed to diversity, equity and inclusion which is one of Roy’s passions. Under her leadership, Lenczner Slaght implemented name-anonymizing hiring for law students, and Roy also helped establish a diversity and inclusion sub-committee at the Commercial List Court User’s Committee. Roy is also a co-creator of Lenczner Slaght’s award-winning ReferToHer.com website which was designed to level the playing field for referrals to female lawyers.

“In my role at Lenczner Slaght, those were passion projects that I did on the side,” she says. “Here at EY, I’ve been asked to put those things front and centre and make that a part of the core work that I’ll be doing with my fabulous new colleagues, so that’s what really attracted me to the role.”

For the next few months, Roy will learn the ropes by working closely with Stamml who is retiring after 34 years with the firm.

“By June I will have a better sense of what my initiatives and my priorities are but for the time being my job is to absorb and learn as much as possible and try to provide that continuity and trusted support that Doris has given over the last number of decades for the business and for its clients,” says Roy. 

As an experienced litigation lawyer, Roy believes she will bring a different perspective to the table at EY in terms of creative thinking and a broad understanding of industry and solutions. She hopes to be a trusted advisor for the business and to continue EY’s focus on DEI by bringing some of the initiatives that she spearheaded in her previous role.

Roy is excited to move to an in-house counsel role for the first time. At Lenczner Slaght, Roy had a wide practice which included securities and commercial disputes and insolvency as well as professional liability, so she will bring skills from all these areas to EY.

“All of those different perspectives really said to me that I wanted to have a wider lens rather than a more narrow one, and I think that is exactly what this role will permit me to do. It feels like lifting my head from the keyboard and looking out, which is really exciting for me,” says Roy.

Roy also looks forward to being a part of the executive team at EY, and working with the team to drive change and innovation to help create a better working environment.

“I think every professional services firm is looking to make the environment more hospitable because burnout is a big issue,” says Roy. “EY is looking for ways to innovate and automate so that is what I will eventually be looking to do with the general counsel’s office.”

EY Canada’s chair and CEO Jad Shimaly welcomes Roy, saying: “Navigating the increasingly complex business landscape will require the knowledge, passion and diverse thinking that Shara brings to the table and we’re incredibly excited to have her join the EY team.”