Canadian Lawyer InHouse

NEWS ROUNDUP 4 www.canadianlawyermag.com/inhouse GENDER BALANCE NEWS BRIEFS North American firms plan to hire more lawyers More than half of businesses and law firms in Canada and the United States plan to increase their legal team headcount in the first half of this year. Surveys of lawyers in legal depart- ments and law firms by Robert Half Legal show that 56 per cent of Can- adian respondents and 54 per cent of those in the U.S. are expecting to expand their hiring of legal profes- sionals in H1 2020. The main areas of expansion are general business or corporate law among Canadian businesses; and litigation, privacy/ data security and general/corporate law among U.S. respondents. WGCC launches Prairies chapter Women General Counsel Canada announced that it has launched a Prairies chapter, which it celebrated with an inaugural event. The Prairies chapter is the newest addition to WGCC's existing four chapters in Ontario, British Columbia, Quebec and Atlantic Canada. An inaugural meeting for the newest chapter was held in December in Calgary. Jolan Storch, former general counsel of the Canadian Olympic Committee, was the keynote speaker for the meeting, which also included networking sessions and personal and professional development sessions. Legal depart- ments take steps to reduce costs In-house legal teams are under increasing pressure to keep a lid on costs while addressing growing demand for legal services. A new survey focusing on global legal Number of female GCs on boards is on the rise Total number of general counsel holding board positions has almost doubled since 2016 Female general counsel and chief legal officers are outnumbering their male counterparts on Canadian public boards by a ratio of approximately 3:2. Despite slow growth for women on boards overall, this shows a positive trajectory for women in-house legal leaders. These numbers were released in a recent study of the 239 companies on the S&P/TSX Composite Index, conducted by Blake Cassels & Graydon LLP. The study also revealed that the total number of GCs holding board positions has almost doubled, rising to 80 in 2019 from 44 in 2016. Of those 80, 49 (or 61 per cent) are female, compared to 26 (or 59 per cent) in 2016. "When you combine the general movement toward diversity on boards with the fact that more female GCs are recognizing that these board positions are available to them and pushing their names forward, that explains the increase," says Stacy McLean, a partner at Blakes. The overall increase in the total number of GCs on boards can be attributed in part to their broad knowledge and expanding role within a business, McLean says. "GCs are now seen as a member of the executive team with a breadth of experience," she says. "I often see that general counsel have significant business experience in other roles outside of legal, such as privacy, cybersecurity or human resources, so they are bringing a whole different perspective that's valuable in the boardroom." The annual study entitled "Blakes Board Report: Opportunities for Women General Counsel" — which first launched in 2016 — also found that 79 per cent of S&P/TSX Composite Index companies now have a GC or equivalent at their organization, and of those in-house leaders, 32 per cent are women — an eight- per-cent increase from 2018. Most industry sectors continue to demonstrate a willingness to have a GC on their boards, apart from telecommunications. The energy sector has the highest number of women on boards with 11 women versus five men. Of the 80 GCs holding board positions, 10 per cent are actively employed as a GC while sitting on the board of another company. "For years it was not considered acceptable for a general counsel of a public company to also sit on the board of another company, so it looks like that has been relaxed, which is a significant transition," says McLean. With 171 public companies not yet having a GC as a board director, opportunities abound for GCs looking to make an impact. "GCs are now seen as a member of the executive team with a breadth of experience."

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