Canadian Lawyer InHouse

21 CANADIANLAWYERMAG.COM/INHOUSE JULY/AUGUST 2019 Lawyers, too, might feel that going in-house means you won't get to do the interesting, sexy work of private practice. Not so, says Alison Harnick, of First Capital Realty Inc. "My experience has really been that, as a GC, the breadth of work and the expectation that you'll contribute to the business much more widely than just as a techni - cal legal expert is there and it's very rewarding," she says. If you have a knack for business, your legal skills might be best suit - ed to in-house practice, says Rustam Juma, the first and only lawyer with actuarial firm Eckler Ltd. And once you're in, there are still adjust- ments to make that will provide the most value for you and the company. "Particularly lawyers that are coming from private practice, and their earlier stag- es of their career, you're so used to getting the work done," says Sony Gokhale, from The Supreme Cannabis Co. "It's a bit of caution to not default to that and really play the role that corporations will truly value, that they will actually need . . . being able to understand and advise and allow for a thorough understanding of your business and the decisions that need to be made for that business." The discussion on the following pages provides more insights on these and other areas from our panelists. There'll also be some war stories and other interesting tid - bits in the videos from the roundtable post- ed online at canadianlawyermag.com/inhouse. InHouse: What evolution have you seen from being a pure legal advisor to being more involved in the business process of your company? RUSTAM JUMA In the post-Enron or Worldcom era, lawyers were seen as subject matter experts or generalists. The failure of those companies in the U.S. led to lawyers being whistleblowers as well. And I think it's important to elevate our role into not just focusing on the legal aspects of various problems but also going above and beyond being the conscience of the corporation; making sure that we're also providing some advice regarding the moral compass of the company. So, the elevation of legal coun - sel, general counsel, has been progressing because things have been happening in the economy that have led to that progression. VIVIAN LEUNG I would say my impression of in-house counsel used to be that he would be a subject matter expert and people within the company would come to you when they needed advice on a certain topic, whereas now, I'm finding I actually run with a lot of initiatives. It is my job to roll things out to the company. I'm the one that puts to - gether the group with people from different departments. So, it's a much more visible role and a much more business role, because you're out there working with each of your clients, rather than sitting in your office waiting for them to come to you with a spe - cific question. DAVID FORREST You pretty quickly realize you have great visibility to the whole busi- ness. That sets the background for being able to evolve into a more strategic type of role. For Canada Goose, specifically, the role has changed a lot. We've had so many firsts during my time there, you know, opening our first e-commmerce [site], opening our first stores, going public. So, all of these naturally evolved my role. ALISON HARNICK I think there is an ex- pectation that a GC will contribute widely to a company's business. I find that people come to me for advice and perspective as opposed to a strict legal interpretation. That's not what my executives are look- ing for. They want that perspective, that bird's-eye view that I think as lawyers we're well positioned to take because we do work with all the different disciplines. So, at First Capital, specifically, to develop and operate the kinds of properties that we do, there's so much interdisciplinary collaboration. . . . I have that bird's-eye view and can see opportunities come together or spot issues before other people. InHouse: What areas are you being asked about the most by the business? SONY GOKHALE It's more about what is not brought up or what's not specifically requested. The nature of the industry is extremely fast paced. And so we have a do- mestic market, both for medical as well as recreational use of cannabis, but at the same time, there's a lot of international opportu- nities. I find, at this stage, there's just a lot of requests to understand different regula- tory regimes internationally. So just being agile and being familiar with the different moving pieces and being able to support any opportunities or requests for exploring op - portunities is probably what takes up most of my time. FORREST The way my role becomes inter- esting is the way in which I have to advise (Left to Right): David Forrest, Vivian Leung, Sony Gokhale, Rustam Juma, and Alison Harnick discuss their roles with Gail Cohen.

• Cover
• 2-44