About

Formerly known as the Canadian Hockey Association, Hockey Canada is the national governing body of ice hockey and sledge hockey in the country. When Sean Kelly joined in 2008 as general counsel there was no legal department, so he had to establish the function from scratch, setting up a formal process for the review and approval of agreements for the organisation. As national sports organisations in Canada ‘generally do not have in-house legal counsel, there was no real template’ for someone stepping into that role. Coming into Hockey Canada to fill a previously non-existent position, Kelly had to learn what people expected from him as the lawyer in the business: one of the biggest challenges was to have the answer when it came to a diverse range of legal questions, regardless of whether it dealt with human resources, corporate law, criminal law, risk management or corporate governance. ‘Developing enough knowledge in those various areas to respond appropriately to whatever question I might be asked has been challenging, to say the least’, Kelly says. He feels that setting up a legal function at Hockey Canada has brought true economic value to the organisation, avoiding the constant need for external advice. ‘The resulting cash savings have been significant,’ he explains, ‘but from a more intangible perspective, my legal background enables me to provide a perspective that I believe has led to better decision making within the organisation since my arrival. People tend to seek out advice on issues from me that they might not have discussed with external counsel in the past, due to concerns about the “meter running” during those discussions. The end result is that our organisational risk has been reduced and our decision making has been enhanced‘. Since 2008, Kelly has played a leading role in the re-writing of corporate by-laws, which have been around for the past century, to bring Hockey Canada into compliance with the Canadian Not For Profit Corporations Act. As an avid sports fan, Kelly feels privileged to be one of the few lawyers in Canada to have a job as in-house counsel with a national sports organisation.