Canadian Lawyer InHouse

Aug/Sep 2010

Legal news and trends for Canadian in-house counsel and c-suite executives

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LAW DEPARTMENT MANAGEMENT By Jeremy Hainsworth Inside How navigating through secondments can lead to better business relationships between client companies and law firms, and why it can also turn into a tug of war. As a lawyer who has been seconded twice since being called to the bar in 2005, Mark Johnson knows about the concept like few others. He says any successful secondment to a client's in-house legal team comes down to managing expectations on the part of the firm, the client, and the lawyer involved. Johnson's first secondment was with a major Canadian mining company; the second with Carillion LLP, which is based in the United Kingdom but has global operations. "Carillion is a leading infra- structure company," says Johnson, an associate at Blake Cassels & Graydon LLP, currently practising in the firm's business, infrastructure, and information technol- ogy groups in Toronto. "They were inter- ested in having a lawyer at my level sit in with their team to learn their business and their market." The work resulted in a strengthened relationship with the client, he says. "I do a consistent amount of work. That's a very big practice area." The secondment concept is simple enough: a lawyer leaves his or her firm to work at the client's offices. The client in effect, receives an in-house counsel for a period of time while the lawyer gains an enhanced understanding of the cli- ent's needs. And, it's an arrangement that's becoming more and more attractive to clients looking to maximize their relation- ship with their law firms. In terms of money, it's a variable rela- tionship. Sometimes the lawyer stays on the firm payroll, other times the client foots the bill. "Normally, because of insur- ance purposes, the lawyer continues to be on the payroll of the firm," says Claude Auger, the Montreal-based managing partner of Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP's Quebec region. "We bill the client according to the terms we reached with them. Most of the time, the client doesn't want another employee on the payroll." Dominic Jaar has been on both sides of the firm-client divide, having been seconded to Bell Canada from Borden Ladner Gervais LLP. The secondment led to a permanent position. "That's how my life changed from being an outside counsel to an in-house counsel," says Jaar, now president of Ledjit Consulting and CEO of the Canadian Centre for Court Technology. And, he says, it's important for both the client and firm to manage expectations and find a lawyer with the appropriate level of experience. But, says Daniel Desjardins, senior vice president and general counsel for Montreal-based global transport giant INHOUSE AUGUST 2010 • 39 job

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