Canadian Lawyer InHouse

31 CANADIANLAWYERMAG.COM/INHOUSE SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018 Wayne practised at McMillan LLP and Miller Thomson LLP. © 2018 Thomson Reuters Canada Limited 00250QW-91913-CE OUR QUALITY STARTS WITH OUR PEOPLE Now his job is to make you better at yours. Practical Law Canada provides legal know-how that gives lawyers a better starting point. Our expert team of lawyer-editors creates and maintains thousands of up-to-date, practical resources across all major practice areas. We go beyond primary law and traditional legal research to give you the resources needed to practise more efficiently, improve client services, and add more value. REQUEST A FREE TRIAL TODAY 1-844-717-4488 | thomsonreuters.ca/practicallawcanada Carswell-91912-6-_IH_Sep_18.indd 1 2018-08-16 12:52 PM alized goal of becoming one of Coca-Cola's entirely paperless legal departments around the globe. "At that time, we were also able to save both on external counsel spend and internal - ly to really find the strengths and interests of our team members working together in a fashion that's allowed them to be challenged but rely on their own strengths," he says. The legal team is also working on an artificial intelligence chatbot to provide procedural advice to business clients. The automated contract generator will guide as - sociates through a series of questions. "We are currently populating policies and providing inputs into the chatbot in order to augment its capabilities. At first, it will provide an answer to internal policy queries, and direct clients to templates or a brief answer based on the wording of their question, but eventually the project will become more intelligent and capable for a range of issues. The project started in At - lanta and Canada is the first international market to work on the project and provide inputs," says Kirkpatrick. In managing his team, Kirkpatrick is known to put "people first" as every member of his legal team has distinct and individual working arrangements to accommodate their weekly personal and family needs, resulting in an ability to attract, support and retain a diverse and talented legal department. Even within a small internal legal team, he has mentored and developed two junior lawyers into general counsel roles. "Scott exemplifies integrity within the profession and has additionally been ap - pointed as the lead ethics officer for all associates across Canada," says Lori Hall, partner at Gowling WLG, who nominated Kirkpatrick for the Innovatio award. With a lean and efficient in-house legal department, he has managed an extensive web of external law firms across every prov - ince and territory in Canada in every area of law imaginable. Kirkpatrick manages a multi-million- dollar annual external legal spend for Coca- Cola Canada while realizing incremental savings in each year of his current role. He has played instrumental roles for Coca-Cola Canada, including the lead on strategic pricing platforms, expansion into new consumer goods categories and reforms to employee pension plan and compensation programs. While being recognized in 2015 as one of the Leading Lawyers Under 40 across Can - ada by Lexpert, Kirkpatrick has since been actively engaged in the mentoring of other young professionals through legal industry associations, the University of Toronto law school and the Forum for Women Entre - preneurs (he is one of only three male men- tors in a class of 150). IH

• Cover