Canadian Lawyer InHouse

JULY/AUGUST 2019 22 INHOUSE on the basis that preserves our core values. A couple of those are innovation and en- trepreneurship. And so I spend quite a bit of time discussing with the business, how to proceed in a way that manages risk ap- propriately but, at the same time, allows the company to maintain those core values. Those can seemingly, at times, run contrary to each other, but working closely with ex- ecutives, we found a way to preserve those. LEUNG For substantive topics, I would say data privacy is huge. GDPR is huge. I get asked a lot about cybersecurity, IT secu- rity. And something that they don't ask me about per se but I find comes up a lot is risk management. JUMA What I really like about my job is being asked questions that are not neces- sarily legal, so one of the big issues right now for us is succession planning. To have a say in how that succession is going to be is planned and how the transition will occur is a great experience. And the second non-legal area where gen - eral counsel can play a role is with equity, diversity, inclusion and inclusion initiatives. Public companies are increasingly under the microscope when it comes to what you're doing when it comes to gender diversity and pay equity. And I feel like institutional in - vestors and clients are requesting companies to be doing more on that front. HARNICK What I do, most often, is [be] there for the executives as a general adviser, a strategic adviser, a second set of eyes — being there so that people can bounce stuff off of me so I can perhaps give a different perspective or viewpoint than the other ex- ecutives I work with who tend to more di- rectly influence financial metrics. As gener- al counsel, I think there's a real expectation, and it's what I love to do in my organization, which is providing a different viewpoint and a more enterprise-wide perspective on how something is going to affect us reputation - ally or in the long term. InHouse: As a jack of all trades, how do you keep up with all the variety of issues, legal and otherwise? GOKHALE This is probably one of the most challenging aspects of my role. And I think I had to very early on set the expectation of, "No, I don't know, but I'm the best suited to figure it out." It's a little bit different in this industry because I know there is no subject matter expert, even if I were to go to exter - nal counsel, because the laws are new. Inter- nationally, a lot of these markets are still at early stages of developing a legal cannabis regime. So, you're not necessarily able to rely on the advice of external advisers. But I enjoy reading, I enjoy learning about new market opportunities, so it works well for myself. But it is quite challenging. FORREST For Canada Goose, we now sell in over 40 countries and regions. It turns you into a bit of a global legal risk manager as opposed to a local subject matter expert. That's why I take on board either working with external or local counsel. It's really im- portant to facilitate your business or, in our case, really focus on tailoring the way we enter markets. We've been really successful at that so legal has to move along with the business and facilitate that, taking into ac - count local legal needs. LEUNG I think it's a losing battle; there's no way I'm ever going to get caught up. Know- ing where you can kind of get away with some risk and that you're comfortable with taking on that risk. I always ask, what do you want the answer to be? What are you trying to do? And then, from there, you formulate a path that you're comfortable with and where you need to actually do a lot more research, potentially bring in external counsel. Hon - estly, I do a lot of Googling nowadays. JUMA I think the biggest issue for us is probably not knowing what we don't know. It's the fear of the unknown or missing something, especially when we're working in different geographies and with different types of law. I think it's important to have a keen interest, to work with business people and be very close to them to understand what their issues are and actively listen to what they're saying. And then just having that gut feeling. Instead of doing what nec - essarily might be legal is doing what is right. InHouse: What are some of the areas that pose the greatest challenge? FORREST There's been some noise made around down and I've worked with the ex- ecutives to make sure we're very transpar- David Forrest Vivian Leung Sony Gokhale

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