Legal news and trends for Canadian in-house counsel and c-suite executives
Issue link: https://digital.canadianlawyermag.com/i/50882
CLOSING • A roundup of legal department news and trends First in-house lawyer to head CBA Canadian Bar Association members have elected the first ever in- house lawyer as second vice president, the first step toward the organization's national presidency, which Fred Headon will take on in 2013. Based in Montreal, Headon heads Air Canada's in-house labour and employ- ment law team. He is also part of the leadership of the CBA's subgroup for in- house counsel, the Canadian Corporate Counsel Association. Headon tells InHouse he sees his In-house counsel happy with their jobs The Canadian Corporate Counsel Association's latest In-House Counsel Barometer survey suggests most lawyers are happy with their jobs and the people they work for. The study, conducted by the CCCA in conjunction with Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP and Vision Critical, reveals the average in-house counsel has been with the same organization for seven years. At the same time, 95 per cent of in- election as a reflection of the changing makeup of the bar, as in-house lawyers grow in number across Canada. "I also think this is in recognition of the strategic role that we play manag- Fred Headon ing the relationship with external counsel and the files that we work on with them," says Headon. "And I think it's exciting that the CBA executive will now have a reflection of that part of the bar." About 4,200 in-house counsel are CBA members out of a total member- ship of 37,000. Called to the bar in Quebec in 1997, Headon has been a member of the CBA since 1999. He was previously an associate and then partner at McCarthy Tétrault LLP. He assumes the second vice presidency of the CBA in August 2011. A year later he becomes first vice president, and, in August 2013, takes over the national presidency. house counsel polled said they would recommend a career as in-house coun- sel to their private-practice counterparts. "Better work-life balance, the type of work, and integration in business deci- sions" were cited as the main reasons behind the findings. The data also suggests the trend of legal outsourcing will continue to grow, with 97 per cent of respondents revealing that outsourcing legal work is a part of their job. The report also finds that larger companies are more likely to outsource. Legal departments are continuing to grow as well, with 33 per cent of those polled saying the number of lawyers in their departments increased last year; 57 per cent saw no change and only eight per cent saw a decrease. ACC planning Canadian expansion The Association of Corporate Counsel is preparing an aggressive expansion into Canada. The ACC plans to open a permanent office in Canada and add chapters in Alberta and British Columbia to supplement its existing ones in Ontario and Quebec, says a letter sent to its members. The ACC also sent another letter to 4,200 non-member Canadian in-house counsel, urging them to join the organiza- tion. "We appreciate in-house counsel these days can belong to multiple industry groups, and we believe ACC should be top of that list," says the letter, signed by some of Canada's top general counsel. In signing the letter, ACC board members David Allgood of the Royal Bank of Canada and Martine Turcotte of Bell Canada are joined by 20 other senior chief legal officers or general 46 • JUNE 2011 INHOUSE counsel representing companies in Halifax, Ottawa, Montreal, Regina, Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton, and Vancouver. These include people like Daniel Desjardins of Bombardier Inc. and Simon Fish of the Bank of Montreal. The letter promises the ACC will provide expanding Canadian services, professional development programs designed by Canadian in-house counsel, and more Canadian advocacy initiatives. It also offers the invited in-house counsel trial access to members-only services on the ACC web site. The ACC drive comes in the aftermath of the conflict between the Canadian Bar Association and its in-house coun- sel subgroup, the Canadian Corporate Counsel Association, which has had the dominant market position in Canada and for years provided many of the Canada-wide services the ACC is now trying to expand on.