Canadian Lawyer InHouse

January 2017

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

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3 CANADIANLAWYERMAG.COM/INHOUSE JANUARY 2017 www.canadianlawyermag.com/inhouse Director/Group Publisher: Karen Lorimer karen.lorimer@thomsonreuters.com Managing Editor: Jennifer Brown jen.brown@thomsonreuters.com Copy Editor: Patricia Cancilla Art Director: Steve Maver Account Co-ordinator: Catherine Giles Sales and Business Development Business Development Consultant: Ivan Ivanovitch ivan.ivanovitch@tr.com 416-887-4300 Canadian Sales Director, Legal Canada: Brett Thomson brett.thomson@tr.com 416-881-4013 Client Development Manager: Grace So grace.so@tr.com 416-903-4473 Account Manager: Kimberlee Pascoe kimberlee.pascoe@tr.com 416-996-1739 Account Executive: Steffanie Munroe steffanie.munroe@tr.com 416-315-5879 Canadian Lawyer InHouse is published 6 times a year by Thomson Reuters Canada Ltd., One Corporate Plaza 2075 Kennedy Rd., Toronto ON. M1T 3V4 (416) 298-5141. Fax : 416-649-7870 Web: www.canadianlawyermag.com/inhouse LinkedIn: www.goo.gl/9tytr Twitter: @CLInHouse Editorial advisory board: Sanjeev Dhawan, Hydro One Networks Inc.; Jonathan Lau, Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario; Fernando Garcia, Nissan Canada; Joe Bradford, Bradford Professional Corp; Dorothy Quann, Xerox Canada. All rights reserved. Contents may not be reprinted without written permission. The opinions expressed in articles are not necessarily those of the publisher. Information presented is compiled from sources believed to be accurate, however, the publisher assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions. Canadian Lawyer InHouse disclaims any warranty as to the accuracy, completeness or currency of the contents of this publication and disclaims all liability in respect of the results of any action taken or not taken in reliance upon information in this publication. Publications Mail Agreement #40766500 ISSN 1921-9563 Copyright © 2017 H.S.T. Registration #R121349799 To subscribe or change addresses Call (416) 649-9585 Fax (416) 649-7870 or e-mail Keith Fulford at keith.fulford@thomsonreuters.com RETURN UNDELIVERABLE CANADIAN ADDRESS TO: CIRCULATION DEPARTMENT One Corporate Plaza 2075 Kennedy Rd., Toronto ON. M1T 3V4 By Jennifer Brown Editor's Box SEND YOUR news AND story ideas TO jen.brown@thomsonreuters.com Indexed in the Canadian Periodical Index Recognizing the challenges of public sector in-house I t's not often we profi le a legal department the way we have in this issue, taking a look at the lawyers who make up the extraordinary team at Toronto Community Housing Corporation. When I met with Mark Johnson and his team in late August and heard them all speak passionately about the work they do for the organization and the people it serves, it seemed like a story that should be told. It is a talented group of lawyers who have sought out a kind of work many wouldn't venture into at an organization that has been plagued by controversy and bad press over the years. But as many of them told me, it's work they wouldn't get a chance to do anywhere else, and it gives them an opportunity to deal with issues that affect the lives of people who benefi t from what they do in a way many others can't see every day. Johnson has an infectious positive attitude. While he has many challenges on his hands as the TCHC revitalization projects move forward, at the same time, the organization wrestles with other ongoing issues around handling complex issues to do with human rights and privacy issues related to tenants. The lawyers at TCHC continue to bring more work in-house as they become more spe- cialized in the work they do, creating solutions for their clients that are unique to the orga- nization, all under the constraints most companies and sectors fi nd themselves in these days. That said, public sector organizations have an added challenge of doing what they do under the very critical eye of the taxpayer, politicians and often the press. As we open up submissions for our fourth annual Innovatio Awards, we want to extend a special invitation to the public sector and non-profi ts to consider putting forward a nomina- tion in one of the nine categories: Diversity, Risk Management, Litigation, Law Department Management, Tomorrow's Leader, Law Department Leadership, In-house Deal Makers, Best Practices in Compliance and Working with External Counsel. I've fi elded questions over the years as to whether public sector departments can nomi- nate themselves and the answer, of course, is absolutely, yes. In fact, we've had some great nominations over the years including the federal government as well as municipalities and non-profi ts from the health-care sector, etc. Last year, two Innovatio winners came from government and non-profi t — the City of Vaughan for the way it handled a complex litigation matter, and Grand Challenges Canada for its vice president operations and general counsel Jocelyn Mackie, who won in the cat- egory of Tomorrow's Leader. I encourage all public sector and non-profi t legal departments to consider putting forward nominations this year — either on their own or together with external law fi rm partners. We will be considering public sector and non-profi t nominations separately this year. Tell us how you're innovating in-house at innovation-awards.com. The deadline for nomi- nations this year is March 15.

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