About

A leader in the North American in-house community, Bombardier’s general counsel Daniel Desjardins has been among the most influential figures during the transformation of how legal functions at a large corporates operate. Bombardier bids for hundreds of public tenders each year, with most involving very complex public-private partnership (PPP) structures. Ensuring a rigorous and compliant pitch is key to Bombardier’s success. After 18 years with the Canada-headquartered aerospace and transport company, Desjardins has honed the in-house team into a one of the most effective pitch-support units in the sector. On almost any given day of the year, one of Bombardier’s lawyers will be active somewhere in the world. This led Desjardins to decentralise the in-house function and empower his team to act autonomously in the multiple jurisdictions in which the company operates. It also led him to build a relatively lean team: with revenues of over CAD $20bn, Desjardins relies on a central legal team of fewer than 200, including paralegals. Foregoing a large team has allowed Desjardins to keep his lawyers focused on their main purpose: advising on tenders in the jurisdiction in which a contract is to be delivered. Bombardier is the only company in the world that makes both trains and planes, both of which are highly complex products. As a result, Desjardins has little time for law firms claiming their product is too complicated to standardise or reduce to process. This tough stance has led to significantly improved efficiencies in Bombardier’s interaction with external counsel. Desjardins is a member Bombardier’s management committee and oversees corporate governance as company secretary. He was presented with the lifetime achievement award at the 2013 Canadian General Counsel Awards.