Canadian Lawyer InHouse

60 -Second Snapshot purpose is to try and measure their success in the profession. So I think we should push and encourage firms to ask — to the extent they can. I think we'll get a good sense of the growth of those groups in the profession even if it's only voluntary disclosure." When he came to Toronto last June, Tuckett brought many ideas on helping to bridge the gap for future generations of lawyers, including reaching down to the high school level in communities where kids might not consider law as a career. Tuckett believes strongly in community outreach and wants to launch a program in Canada similar to a U.S. one called Street Law, Corporate Legal Diversity Pipeline program, developed with the Association of Corporate Counsel. He was the 2009-2010 chairman of the DuPont legal minority counsel network and project co-ordinator of DuPont Legal's Street Law project, which DuPont administers at Howard High School of Technology in Wilmington, Dela. Tuckett also served on the board of The law ye r: Ernest Tuckett The compan y: DuPont Canada • Grew up in New York • Received his J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center • Was a partner at Arent Fox LLP in Washington D.C. for 10 years • 2009-2010 chairman of the DuPont Legal Minority Counsel Network • Wants to introduce Street Law, a program to encourage high school students to consider a career in law, to Toronto and women," says Tuckett. "We fashion a program to introduce them to corporate law topics and the day-to-day life of corporate lawyers, and teach them a few basic legal concepts in the classroom. Then we bring them to a one-day semi- I told the team when I got here that my main focus was to get our work done, but my close second, in terms of priorities, was their development from the perspective of getting the most out of their career at DuPont. Delaware Futures, Inc., a non-profit that provides academic support to disadvantaged high school students. Clarissa Da Costa, one of the lawyers on Tuckett's team in Toronto, will be working with him and the ACC to bring a Street Law chapter to Canada. "We want to work with other legal departments and maybe a law firm or two on bringing the Street Law model to Toronto," says Tuckett. The program targets high school students in underrepresented demographics of the legal profession. "It's usually racial minorities 44 • F eb r u a ry 2013 nar to act out those scenarios where they play the role of lawyers and advocates around corporate law." The end goal, says Tuckett, is to introduce students to the legal profession and expose them to the law as a potential career. "By introducing them to lawyers, paralegals, and law clerks and getting them interested in the law it becomes a pipeline initiative to one day feed into the profession." Tuckett is also part of the DuPont minority counsel network in the U.S., which is comprised of lawyers of colour INHOUSE from the 40 law firms that do work for the company and lawyers of colour within the DuPont legal department. Prior to arriving in Toronto, Tuckett was corporate counsel at DuPont's headquarters in Wilmington, serving as commercial counsel supporting its crop protection business platform. When he was approached about the job north of the border he says he jumped at the chance. "I thought it was a great opportunity. It was offering me the general counsel role and responsibilities, and Toronto as a city and Canada as a country for an international assignment was just terrific. It was an opportunity for me to have a leadership role and to bring some of the things I had learned at headquarters to help develop the team here." DuPont Canada's in-house team has six people — four lawyers and two paralegals — handling a range of legal matters from commercial issues and contracts to employment, IP, environmental law, as well as anti-trust issues. "We also play a role in business strategy that dovetails with our role as legal advisers." Tuckett sits on the leadership team for the company and has the most businessfocused role of the department, but he also wants to help his department develop their own careers. He sees it as another way to boost the effectiveness of the team. "I told the team when I got here that my main focus was to get our work done, but my close second, in terms of priorities, was their development from the perspective of getting the most out of their career at DuPont," says Tuckett. "Since I've been here I've had multiple conversations with them about development, and we've also had discussions about development that we see as beneficial to the company and the team that we can all engage in." Formal development plans are now in the works for each person on the team that will be tailored for each of their skill sets and experiences. On the operational side, Tuckett and his team continue to pursue DuPont's global recovery initiative that works to bring money back to the company through legal means. "I believe legal has tracked about $2 billion in recoveries over the course of 10 years or so now," he says. "We've been very successful in

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