About

Tracey Beaudoin started her tenure at Packers Plus Energy in 2009 when the company was on a mandate to fuse industry expertise with the ability to build a legal team. Packers Plus had called for a legal innovator and, in hiring Beaudoin, that is what they got. For the last six years Beaudoin has given structured guidance and now expects all lawyers to pick up issues and solve them independently. Her role has enabled the business to be nimble and responsive to business requests. She adds that ‘legal is not a place where issues go to die like other companies, we rarely say “no”. We find ways for our client to do what they need to do in the confines of legal as an enabling department’. When asked about the highlights of her career Beaudoin discusses a strategy that will be rolled out alongside senior management: ‘We partnered with external folks to monetise IP and it is bearing fruit already. It’s going to be a great plan and we can’t wait to see how it unfolds. It will take place over the next five years. It is unique in our industry and the way we’re going about it is unique’. Beaudoin says that to be good at what she does she has to communicate effectively on a proactive and large scale: ‘I get out of the office and see what’s going on to see how others are solving problems. Often this is done by sharing my own experiences and speaking at various conferences’. Beaudoin has been a speaker at various events and recently discussed the effect of rising patent litigation claims upon innovation, touching on topics related to technology players within oil sands and the effect of patent litigation on the region’s hydrocarbons industry innovation. She stresses the importance of knowledge exchange in the field: ‘I have to be willing to pass on knowledge and learn from others especially other in-house counsel’. Beaudoin acknowledges that the oil field business is for tough skinned people and she takes pride in succeeding in a field that is often described as a ‘man’s world’ and admits that even though it is really challenging and extremely tough, ‘the more support you have externally and internally the better you are to do your job’.