About

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 have a multi-faceted role at iA Financial Group that involves providing strategic legal advice to a broad cross-section of business lines and managing complex litigation. My litigation management role allows me to engage with leading external counsel across the country, overseeing highly strategic cases in a wide field of disciplines. This work doesn’t end with simply assessing litigation risk. It often requires providing critical advice to our business partners on risk and crisis management, government relations, investor relations as well as PR and communication strategies.

I also manage a five-person legal team in Toronto that is part of a larger national legal department at iA Financial Group. Our company is one of the largest insurance and wealth management companies in Canada. It also operates in the US. We work in a highly regulated industry at a time when the regulatory landscape is rapidly evolving. This means our legal department is continuously challenged to evolve and adapt as well. Our advice must be agile, creative, and business focussed if its going to add value.

How do you feel in-house legal leaders can successfully introduce and implement a culture within a legal department?

This requires a paradigm shift in some ways. In-house legal departments are often seen – and see themselves – as cost centres. What if we turned that on its head and focussed on “value” as opposed to “cost”?

We must be better champions of our gatekeeper role and the fundamental value that we bring to the table in this role. It’s not something that can be easily measured in dollars and cents. For the legal department, this means we must always strive to focus our advice through the lens of ethics, compliance and most importantly the company’s own values. When we do so, we set the example for all lawyers in the department – and we build the foundation for that culture.

If you had to give advice to an aspiring in-house lawyer or general counsel what would it be and why?

Don’t rely solely on what you know; legal knowledge is no longer a precious commodity. Focus on how to apply that knowledge having regard for the business goals at hand, emerging risks and regulatory trends. And ask questions, lots and lots of questions. Too often we think we understand the problem, but our understanding is based on assumptions. A business partner is not going to get irritated by your questions. They will get irritated if you deliver an answer that misses the point.

How do you suggest in-house lawyers build strong relationships with business partners within their company?

Any solid relationship requires trust. Your business partners need to feel that they can rely on you. One piece of advice I have given to our in-house team is to say “yes” more often. As we advance in our careers we will all be told that it is important to learn how to say “no”. This is a necessary skill in managing priorities. But just as important is learning when to strategically say “yes”. Both require a thoughtful rather than reactive approach. I have often prioritised work not just because the work is strategic, but also because my relationship with the partner is strategic. Saying “yes” more often in this way has helped me to build a rapport with partners who can influence my reputation and the reputation of the legal department. If these partners can rely on me for the small stuff, they will also start to rely on me for the strategic stuff.

What techniques do you use to provide commercially-focused advice to your company, and how do you communicate these to more junior lawyers in the team?

Lawyers are inherently risk averse. We understand legal risk, but we don’t often understand business risk well enough. Having a good grasp of our business partner’s risk appetite is a good start. Also important is clearly understanding the strategic goals of the partner. At iA Financial Group we encourage our lawyers to get involved in projects “from the ground up” so that they fully appreciate the short and long-term goals of the business line. We also encourage them to stay informed of the competitive market the company operates in and to network – both within the company and with industry organisations and participants.

FOCUS ON: DIVERSITY

I have been quite fortunate in my career. The leadership of the legal department at my company is filled with talented and diverse women. The team I manage in Toronto is an all-female team, and women of colour lead the headcount. But last year, I celebrated two landmark events that gave me pause for thought. First, I celebrated my 20th anniversary as an in-house counsel. Last year was also the first time I had the privilege of retaining, in a file that I was managing, a partner who was a woman of colour.

Over the years I have worked with some of the best external counsel in the country at some of the biggest firms in the country; but none of them looked like me. This was my reality when I started my legal career on Bay Street. I worked with brilliant women partners, generous with their time and advice. Yet, in none of them could I see the “future me”.

A quarter of a century later, it’s not clear to me that I would fare much better if I were starting my legal career today.

We have far to go, even in terms of gender parity for partnerships at big law firms, but I worry that the focus on gender parity has come at the expense of true diversity. Firms must do more than simply draft well-intentioned policies if they want to achieve meaningful and measurable results beyond gender parity. They must nurture their commitment to diversity beyond the hiring stage and actively engage in supporting racialised lawyers, so the “future me” – whoever she is – can see herself at the partnership table and have the tools to get there.

I tell my husband about my landmark discovery. He astutely inquires: “Well, did you ask?”

I am briefly startled and still somewhat uncomfortable with my then realisation.

Yes, firms must do better.

As in-house counsel, we must also demand better.