Executive vice president, regulatory affairs and general counsel | Toronto Hydro Corporation
Editor’s note: This interview was conducted prior to March 2020. As the youngest senior executive and chief legal officer in Toronto Hydro’s (TH) history, Amanda Klein leads a team of...
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Chief legal officer and chief compliance officer | Capital One Canada
Editor’s note: This interview was conducted prior to March 2020. Andrea Cotroneo is Capital One Canada’s chief legal and compliance officer, who also leads regulatory and government relations. In 2019,...
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Chief legal and governance officer | TELUS
Editor’s note: This interview was conducted prior to March 2020. What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years? At...
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Senior vice president, legal services | EllisDon Group of Companies
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EVP, external affairs & chief legal officer | Westjet
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Associate general counsel | Scotiabank
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Senior manager and general counsel | Honda Canada
Editor’s note: This interview was conducted prior to March 2020. How do you feel in-house legal leaders can successfully introduce and implement a culture within a legal department? I believe...
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Vice president, legal and chief governance officer | Vancouver Airport Authority (VAA)
Editor’s note: This interview was conducted prior to March 2020. What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years? The...
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Senior vice president and general counsel | Suncor Energy
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Executive vice-president, legal and economic affairs, and corporate secretary | CGI Group
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Vice president, general counsel and secretary | Morguard Corporation
Editor’s note: This interview was conducted prior to March 2020. Beverley Flynn joined Morguard in 2003 and was appointed general counsel and secretary in 2004. She has more than 15...
#GCPowerlist Canada 2020
Senior vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary | Canadian Western Bank
Editor’s note: This interview was conducted prior to March 2020. What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years? I...
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Executive vice president and chief legal officer | Enbridge
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Director, associate general counsel | Citibank
Editor’s note: This interview was conducted prior to March 2020. Major transactions include multiple internal re-organisations, one of which involved a C$7bn derivative portfolio and the other involved the movement...
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Chief legal officer | Novacap
Editor’s note: This interview was conducted prior to March 2020. Bruno-Étienne Duguay has acted as chief legal officer for Novacap since 2008. He brought a wealth of experience to the...
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Senior managing director, legal | OMERS Private Equity
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Senior vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary | Bird Construction
Editor’s note: This interview was conducted prior to March 2020. Charles Caza is senior vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary at Bird Construction. Caza leads the company’s risk management...
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Chief legal officer | Aphria
Editor’s note: This interview was conducted prior to March 2020. What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years? The...
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General counsel | Pan American Silver
Editor’s note: This interview was conducted prior to March 2020. What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years? Pan...
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Vice president, corporate secretary and general counsel | Barrick Gold Corporation
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Senior vice president, general counsel and secretary | Nestle Canada
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General counsel North America | Thales
Editor’s note: This interview was conducted prior to March 2020. What techniques do you use to provide commercially-focused advice to your company, and how do you communicate these to more...
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General counsel | Royal Bank of Canada
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Chief legal officer | Air Canada
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General counsel and privacy officer | World Vision Canada
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Vice-president, general counsel and corporate secretary | Turquoise Hill Resources Ltd.
Editor’s note: This interview was conducted prior to March 2020. What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years? Continued...
#GCPowerlist Canada 2020
Assistant vice president and counsel | Manulife Investment Management
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Group head and general counsel | Toronto Dominion Bank (TD)
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General counsel and corporate secretary | Canadian Malartic GP (CMGP)
Editor’s note: This interview was conducted prior to March 2020. Éric now works at Agnico Eagle Mines Limited. What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been...
#GCPowerlist Canada 2020
Vice president and general counsel Canada, USA, UK and Asia-Pacific | CGI Information Systems and Management Consultants
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Vice-president legal | CargoJet
Editor’s note: This interview was conducted prior to March 2020. How can in-house legal leaders can successfully introduce and implement a culture within a legal department? The role of the...
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Head of legal | Shell Canada
Editor’s note: This interview was conducted prior to March 2020. What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years? The...
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Chief legal officer and secretary | Rogers Communications
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General counsel | Instar Asset Management Inc
Editor’s note: This interview was conducted prior to March 2020. What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years? The...
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General counsel, corporate secretary and privacy officer | Pethealth – A Fairfax Company
Editor’s note: This interview was conducted prior to March 2020. What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years? I...
#GCPowerlist Canada 2020
Vice president and assistant general counsel | Johnson Controls International
Editor’s note: This interview was conducted prior to March 2020. In her role as chief counsel, Heather Brown shapes and influences the business strategies to create an environment that facilitates...
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Executive vice president and general counsel | Scotiabank
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Executive director, legal affairs and general counsel | Sandoz Canada
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Managing director | Brookfield Infrastructure
Editor’s note: This interview was conducted prior to March 2020. James now works at Hakluyt & Company. How do you feel in-house legal leaders can successfully introduce and implement a...
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Chief legal and corporate affairs officer | Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan
Editor’s note: This interview was conducted prior to March 2020. How do you feel in-house legal leaders can successfully introduce and implement a culture within a legal department? I think...
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Chief legal officer and corporate secretary | Canadian Pacific Railway
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Managing partner and general counsel | Brookfield
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Senior vice president, general counsel, corporate secretary | RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust
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Legal director, Canada | Uber Canada
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Chief legal officer and corporate secretary | Aurora Cannabis
Editor’s note: This interview was conducted prior to March 2020. What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years? As...
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Senior vice president, general counsel and secretary | Shopify
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Executive vice president and chief legal officer | Bunge
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Vice president, legal & general counsel | STEP Energy Services
Editor’s note: This interview was conducted prior to March 2020. What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years? In...
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Chief underwriting counsel – international operations | Stewart Title Guaranty Company
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Senior vice president, chief legal and sustainability officer | Capital Power Corporation
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General counsel | Northleaf Capital Partners
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Senior counsel and director, banking litigation (Canada and Caribbean) | Royal Bank of Canada
Editor’s note: This interview was conducted prior to March 2020. Kathrine Smirle has been an influential and innovative legal adviser at Royal Bank of Canada since 2010. During this time,...
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Canadian associate vice-president and assistant general counsel | Aramark Canada
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General counsel and corporate secretary | Manitoba Hydro
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Chief legal officer, ombudsman and corporate secretary | Interac
Editor’s note: This interview was conducted prior to March 2020. Kikelomo now works at CIBC. What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during...
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Vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary, ArcelorMittal Dofasco, and country counsel, Canada, ArcelorMittal Canada | ArcelorMittal
Editor’s note: This interview was conducted prior to March 2020. What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years? Given...
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General counsel, chief compliance officer and corporate secretary | CAE
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General counsel | ACS Infrastructure Canada
Editor’s note: This interview was conducted prior to March 2020. Mark now works at Gowling WLG. What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in...
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Managing Director, General counsel, chief compliance officer and chief risk officer | Bentallgreenoak
Editor’s note: This interview was conducted prior to March 2020. What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years? The...
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Vice president, general counsel and secretary | IBM Canada
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Chief legal officer | PSP Investments
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Chief legal officer and public affairs | Sun Life Financial
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General counsel | Jonas Software
Editor’s note: This interview was conducted prior to March 2020. Michael now works at Banyan Software. What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in...
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Executive vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary | NorthWest Healthcare Properties REIT
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General counsel | League
Editor’s note: This interview was conducted prior to March 2020. How do you feel in-house legal leaders can successfully introduce and implement a culture within a legal department? I have...
#GCPowerlist Canada 2020
Executive vice president and general counsel | Newmont Goldcorp
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Vice president, legal | MasterCard
Editor’s note: This interview was conducted prior to March 2020. What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years? I...
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Vice president head of legal and company secretary | Boralex
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Executive vice president, stakeholder relations and general counsel | TC Energy
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Chief legal officer | Hydro One
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General counsel Canada | Manulife Canada
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Vice-president, legal general counsel and corporate secretary | Canadian Natural Resources (Canadian Natural)
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General counsel | KPMG
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General counsel, corporate secretary and privacy officer | Resolver
Editor’s note: This interview was conducted prior to March 2020. Peter now works at Descartes Systems Group. What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved...
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Head of legal Canada | JTI Canada
Editor’s note: This interview was conducted prior to March 2020. What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years? I...
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Senior vice president, commercial and legal affairs | Teck Resources
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Chief legal officer | Canopy Growth Corporation
Editor’s note: This interview was conducted prior to March 2020. What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years? While...
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Senior counsel, legal and regulatory compliance | BMO Financial Group (Bank of Montreal)
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Chief operating officer and general counsel | Insight Productions
Editor’s note: This interview was conducted prior to March 2020. What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years? In...
#GCPowerlist Canada 2020
Head of legal and compliance, Canada | Alcon Canada
Editor’s note: This interview was conducted prior to March 2020. What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years? The...
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General counsel – Canada | Siemens
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Senior vice president, general counsel, securities and corporate secretary | Nutrien
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Chief legal officer and corporate secretary | QuadReal Property Group
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Chief legal officer | Iovate Health Sciences International
Editor’s note: This interview was conducted prior to March 2020. How do you feel in-house legal leaders can successfully introduce and implement a culture within a legal department? The best...
#GCPowerlist Canada 2020
General counsel | Home Depot Canada
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Vice-president and general counsel | Coca-Cola Canada
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Executive vice president corporate services and chief legal officer | Canadian National Railway Company (CN)
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Senior vice president, head of legal | Invesco Canada
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Vice president, general counsel | Hydro Ottowa
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Senior executive vice-president, general counsel and corporate development | CIBC
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Special advisor to the CEO | BMO Financial Group (Bank of Montreal)
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General counsel | Bombardier
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General counsel and corporate secretary | Ornge
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General counsel | D-Wave Systems
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Vice president, legal | ShawCor
Editor’s note: This interview was conducted prior to March 2020. What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years? In...
#GCPowerlist Canada 2020
General counsel and corporate secretary | Packers Plus Energy Services
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Senior vice-president, general counsel and corporate secretary | Alimentation Couche-Tard
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President, infrastructure | Kilmer Group
Editor’s note: This interview was conducted prior to March 2020. Wayne Carson is president of Kilmer Infrastructure Developments, where he leads Kilmer’s business platforms in public-private partnerships, real estate development...
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Senior managing counsel | Industrial Alliance Insurance & Financial Services
Editor’s note: This interview was conducted prior to March 2020. What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years? I...
#GCPowerlist Canada 2020
Executive vice president, chief legal officer and secretary | Aecon Group
Editor’s note: This interview was conducted prior to March 2020. Yonni Fushman is executive vice president, chief legal officer and secretary. He holds executive responsibility for managing a broad portfolio...
#GCPowerlist Canada 2020
With an abundance of feedback from senior in-house legal professionals across Canada as well as their counterparts in private practice, this edition of the GC Powerlist Canada is the largest ever by some distance.
Research highlighted that Canadian in-house counsel seem similar to many other businesspeople in developed, industrialised economies in their anxieties; almost an overall majority of respondents advised that adverse political developments is the issue that most keeps them up at night when considering future professional challenges. After this, IT security issues loomed large, with a significant number of respondents placing an issue related to this as their greatest fear for the future. When compared to the remaining three concerns, it is notable that these options rely upon an adverse external action. This implies that Canadian in-house lawyers are confident that they run a tight ship and that robust internal processes will head off or mitigate internal threats.
Feedback regarding the improvement of legal functions also shows the Canadian in-house legal scene to be mature, with the standout goal for Canadian in-house counsel appearing as greater efficiency. Notably, none reported focusing on goals one would expect of a new in-house legal team that was not successfully embedded, though some respondents did mention their main goal as improving relationships with internal stakeholders.
These topics – along with many others – are afforded more in-depth analysis and discussion via the interviews within this publication.
It was my pleasure to speak to and extensively interview Canada-based counsel, each with their own priorities and challenges. I’d also like to thank our extensive network of law firm partners and in-house counsel in the region whose opinions we canvassed during the course of the research.
Last but not least, I would like to congratulate all those featured in this year’s list. Their selection means they have been identified as in-house counsel who are amongst the standard bearers of the profession, and as specialists who confront and manage commercial and legal challenges in a way that highlights them as market leaders.
Joe Boswell
Head of Research:
GC Powerlist series
On Tuesday 14th of March we were delighted to hold the second Legal 500 GC Roundtable in Medellín, once again in conjunction with Contexto Legal, at the Park 10 Hotel. Despite torrential rain a healthy quorum of GCs – including representatives of Andercol, FANALCO, Alión, Postobón, Grupo Santamaria, Grupo Éxito, Bancolombia and Isagen, among others, turned out to discuss a range of topics arising from the current wave of key reforms being enacted or under discussion in Colombia.
After words of welcome from Contexto Legal’s managing partner, Guillermo Villegas, the first topic of discussion was a consideration of how companies and businesses were responding to the considerable changes of regulatory and normative frameworks. Given the breadth of areas – tax, mining, labour, social security, health etc. – that these developments are affecting, there was particular consensus around not only the need to grasp the transversal points arising from all these reforms and to approach and respond to them with a singular voice (for example via the ANADE business chamber), but also to have confidence in the independence and resilience of relevant Colombian institutions, the Courts, etc. A valuable additional point was made regarding the need for the business community to reconsider its vocabulary and rhetoric in the ongoing negotiations that will undoubtedly take place as the year proceeds, adjusting to current realities so as to better make its points and ensure its voice as a stakeholder in current debates.
While the conversation would then touch on how the stresses of these reform processes are affecting GC/Board relations, it was the issue of crisis management – particularly as understood from the GC perspective – that particularly animated the assembled participants. Crisis management specialist Andrés Gómez (of consultancy ‘Laberinto’), set the frame for the discussion with his definition of a crisis as ‘ a negotiation in which one is obliged to participate but without having any degree of control. Effectively, there is little doubt that the current scenario is one in which the business community is being obligated to participate in just such a negotiation. The conversation ranged across the varying steps that need to be put in place to handle specific emergent crisis – having a media trained figure in place, for example – but the discussion highlighted that many of these steps were beyond the capacities of small-to-medium enterprises which the speed and range of reforms were pushing into crisis with immediate effect. What also increasingly became clear is that communication will be absolutely central to the business community’s collective health in the face of these changes, and that -in general- the extent of its activities on the social front, with communities, etc., as part of ongoing business activities has largely remained unacknowledged. Indeed, the depth and longevity of this social and community welfare activity must be given the prominence it deserves and can also constitute a point of commonality in the discussions to come.
A fine evening was brought to an end with some measured and well-weighed closing remarks by Contexto Legal partner Gustavo Cruz, whose optimistic realism before the challenges ahead were at once sober but heartening.
