Canadian Lawyer InHouse

29 CANADIANLAWYERMAG.COM/INHOUSE JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2019 knowledge of our IP counsel," she says. On the employment side, Reiter says the company has no plans to change its position on benefi ts that it had already rolled out based on the Ontario Liberal government's legislation. "As a social enterprise, our focus is on our quirtuple bottom line of people, planet, profi t, passion and purpose, so we might be looking at this a little differently than other employers." Catherine Scott, chief legal offi cer at PayByPhone in Vancouver says the deci- sion around making someone a, full-time employee, part-time or contractor is some- thing debated quite a bit with her internal clients. Another is reasonable accommoda- tion on different requirements around both physical and mental health issues. "The other major thing we're dealing with is setting policies on certain mat- ters," she says. "For example anti-bullying/ anti-harassment policies and updating those around what the legal landscape is and what corporate policy should be. Because of the change in the law araound marijuana that is an interesting one to navigate around." With edibles becoming legal this fall, will having cannabis edibles be the same as having a beer in the offi ce on a Friday? "That's one we had a request to get external counsel opinion on," she says. When it comes to obtaining outside legal advice, Stewart says she does engage external counsel on matters related to IP. "I've found the most effective strategy for external coun- sel generally is to rely upon a mix of national and boutique fi rm support," she says. Her theory is that consolidating a bulk of work with a national fi rm provides the benefi ts of a one-stop shop and having a team with varying specialties within one fi rm generally facilitates an in-depth and holistic approach, as the team benefi ts from learning our business from multiple angles. "However, I've had great success working with boutique fi rms as well, where there is often great expertise in a particular area. I generally make the call on a mandate by mandate basis, considering all factors rel- evant to the particular matter." Smaller boutiques are an option that Charles Whitburn, vice president and gen- eral counsel of Points International, has been given consideration to using and would like to consider more if they can scale to what he needs. Points has patents and trademarks to deal with in multiple jurisdictions. He says he wants external advice that will help him un- derstand what the risk parameters area asso- ciated with certain IP assets and in pursuing a patent in one jurisdiction and not another. What he's seeking are "crisp answers" to his IP questions from outside counsel. "I just want some help putting some good thought into this, so I can develop a good IP strategy," he says. "I'm not buying a service, I'm buying a solution. You can service the heck out of something, but if there's no solu- tion to it it's very frustrating." IH 6PDOOɇ+ Mighty Our strength lies in our expertise - not our size. As a highly specialized ZRUNSODFHODZȴUPZHVWDQGRXWDPRQJWKHPDVVHVWKURXJKDFUHDWLYH DJLOHKLJKO\HQJDJHGVWUDWHJ\GULYHQDSSURDFKWROHJDOVHUYLFHV:KLOH ZHȇUHDERXWLTXHȴUPRXUSHRSOHDUHPLJKW\DQGRXUFOLHQWH[SHULHQFH is unparalleled. 7KDWȇVWKHSRZHURINHHSLQJWKLQJVVPDOO 1850 - 745 Thurlow Street 9DQFRXYHU%&9(& 7:URSHUJUH\HOOFRP Untitled-7 1 2019-01-03 3:36 PM

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