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The Canadian Lawyer Compensation Survey provides unique insight into the ways in which partners, associates and in-house counsel are compensated across the country.
Innovatio Awards celebrate in-house counsel, both individuals and teams, who have found ways to show leadership by becoming more efficient, innovative and creative in meeting the needs of their organizations within the Canadian legal markets
When: September 20, 2018
Where: Arcadian Court, Toronto
Event Detail: 2018 Nominations are now closed
Presented by Lexpert, the prestigious Rising Stars Awards Gala honours winners from across Canada and welcomes law firm and in-house leaders and distinguished guests to celebrate and network with others who are at the top of the legal profession
When: November 8, 2018
Where: Fairmont Royal York Hotel, Toronto
Event Detail: 2018 Nominations open June 4th
Presented by Lexpert, these awards recognize individuals and teams from law firms, academia, law societies and corporations that have made a significant contribution to the legal community
When: June 19, 2018
Where: Toronto
Event Detail: To purchase a table and explore sponsorship opportunities click here
The Lexpert CCCA Corporate Counsel Directory & Yearbook is a joint endeavour of the Canadian Corporate Counsel Association and Lexpert. It provides the most extensive listing of corporate counsel in Canada.
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With the steep rise in in-house legal departments, rapidly evolving technology, heightened use of alternative legal providers and the explosion of new regulations as businesses continue to expand across the globe, a new report from McCarthy Tétrault recommends legal service providers reinvent to adapt or die.
I was recently part of a panel at the 3rd Annual Disruption in Legal Practice program at Osgoode Hall Law School. In discussing the changing legal practice, our panel was asked an interesting question which, at first blush, seemed simple and straight forward to answer. Upon reflection, the response became detailed and complex. The question was: how does the role of in house counsel differ from a private practice lawyer (within this group I include lawyers in mid-to-large-size law firms and boutique law firms) and which unique skills are needed to succeed in the in-house role? The old rule applies, that if one person asks, there are many others with the same question.
Many articles have been written on the issue of risk management and I do not propose to write the seminal piece on the subject. Rather, my point is that as in-house counsel you need to look at risk as organizational risk, not simply legal risk. To do this you must know your organization’s tolerance for risk and the return on resource investment to manage its risks. Without looking at the RORI for risk management, you are just measuring identifiable risks against some arbitrary standard (typically legal) of what is acceptable risk.
Elisabeth Demone is no stranger to artificial intelligence. The chief legal officer at Symcor, one of Canada’s leading financial processing services providers, is keenly familiar with the potential AI has to offer.
The case for diversity and inclusion is clearly established: we know that it drives the bottom line, generating different perspectives and ideas, increasing productivity and creating safe, respectful and healthy work cultures.
Early spring is traditionally a time when money is front and centre. The federal and provincial governments release their budgets, companies issue annual reports and prepare first-quarter numbers and law firms pay partners their previous year’s profits.
Jody Wilson-Raybould’s testimony to the House of Commons Justice Committee gives the in-house legal community an opportunity for a healthy discussion about some key common themes. It reinforces the in-house counsel’s connection to the rule of law. It reminds us of the importance of independent thought, truth telling, having the courage to act with integrity and the ability to navigate difficult relationship demands and issues of importance to our clients. This is a valuable opportunity and a valuable story. In light of solicitor-client privilege, in-house lawyers are rarely permitted to share their perspectives and these kinds of stories.
Beyond having general industry awareness and knowing what it is that your company does, what does this mean and how do you do it?
On Feb. 20, I attended the Women in Governance Annual Recognition Gala. This was a celebration of public companies that made a commitment and achieved at least 30 per cent female representation within their boards. It was inspirational to hear about the shared experiences and the strategic business decisions that drove these companies to make a commitment to actively promote equity within their governance board.
A panel of female in-house counsel discuss what professional life working in-house is like, from day-to-day life to salary to professional growth and more. The event was put on by Young Women in Law at Blake Cassels & Graydon LLP in Toronto on Feb. 26.
In the fourth and final video from the Canadian Lawyer InHouse View 2019 series, sponsored by Fasken, Harpreet K. Sidhu, general counsel, corporate secretary and privacy officer at Pethealth Inc., a Fairfax Company, talks about the challenges involved in managing acquisitions the company has made, and dealing with the various regulatory requirements in the insurance industry.
In the third of four videos from the Canadian Lawyer InHouse View 2019 series, sponsored by Fasken, Lisa Skakun, general counsel & chief corporate development officer with Coast Capital Savings talks about the challenges involved in taking the credit union national in 2019.
In the second of four videos from the Canadian Lawyer InHouse View 2019 series, sponsored by Fasken, Daniel Bourque and Sacha Fraser, co-lead counsel of the legal department at Xerox Canada talk about managing the company’s transformation efforts and working with their internal clients as they all embrace change.
In the first of four videos from the Canadian Lawyer InHouse View 2019 series, sponsored by Fasken, Lisa Marcuzzi, vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary at ArcelorMittal Dofasco talks about managing the challenges occurring in the manufacturing sector.
When you come in-house, your “hard” legal skills are table stakes. Your employer expects, rightly so, that you have these skills, and where you do not, they expect you to figure it out. This is where your jack-of-all-trades skill comes in. The real question for them is can you add value to the organization?
From banking and manufacturing to tech and insurance, these in-house counsel are focused on the changing business objectives of the companies they serve.
When Aniz Alani arrived at the City of Abbotsford in early 2017 as the municipality’s first in-house counsel, he quickly identified one area in particular he knew he needed to get some control over — managing the bills coming in from external law firms.
As we launch our sixth annual Innovatio Awards recognizing innovation in-house this month, I am excited to announce that this year we are adding a category recognizing excellence for legal operations — a multi-disciplinary team approach to managing the challenges of legal departments both big and small.
This article is a bit like the opening act in a play. Its aim is to introduce the cast of characters — our legal team at Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation — and the themes we’ll be exploring over the next five bi-monthly columns.
