Legal news and trends for Canadian in-house counsel and c-suite executives
Issue link: https://digital.canadianlawyermag.com/i/1418039
www.canadianlawyermag.com/inhouse 1 canadianlawyermag.com/inhouse EDITOR'S DESK The in-house teams will need to be highly versed in the technicalities of the systems they are helping to design. Technical, not just human, skills required C orporate counsel often need to navigate complex human issues. From work- place topics like diversity, inclusion or health and safety, to marketing and communications, in-house counsel need to be experts in communicating both internally and externally. Yet many legal leaders must also be technicians. In this issue, we spoke with Steven Kresak at IBI Group about his team's robotic process automation offerings (p. 26). IBI's legal team created a chatbot — dubbed BotIBI — that responds to high-volume, low-risk questions from internal clients, reducing the need to contact a lawyer. "We're constantly trying to layer on additional functionalities in terms of what else can be done to make it easy for the business to get what they need to grow," says Kresak. Likewise, Canadian financial institutions are preparing for a major overhaul of Canada's payment systems involving complex technology. The legal departments at these institutions will be leading the charge. The new systems will allow Canadians to make and receive irrevocable payments within seconds, day and night, 365 days a year and are a part of Canada's payments modernization process. In addition to processing large-value payments with real- time settlement finality, they will support flexibility for future technologies, including interfaces and application program interfaces, and enhanced cyber security and resilience capabilities. "Payments modernization, including the acceleration of payments and the stan- dardization of data presentment … will create tremendous opportunities for us to offer customers faster data-rich payments with the potential for cross-border interoper- ability," says Richard Shimoda, senior legal counsel at Scotiabank, which has played an essential role in providing input on the technology (p. 17). These new systems require technological professionals as well — in other words, the lawyers at IBI and Scotiabank will not be spending their days writing code. But the in-house teams will need to be highly versed in the technicalities of the systems they are helping to design. These legal departments arguably represent the vanguard for skills in-house lawyers will increasingly need. While being familiar with the law and being a solid communicator are still vital, getting in the weeds and helping to design software is something more and more departments are asking their in-house teams to do. Tim Wilbur, Editor-in-Chief EDITORIAL Editor-in-Chief Tim Wilbur Lead Writer Lucy Saddleton Production Editor Josh Lewis Writer Elizabeth Raymer Writer Zena Olijnyk Writer Aidan Macnab Writer Bernise Carolino CONTRIBUTOR Ken Fredeen, Cheryl Foy ART & PRODUCTION Art Director Marla Morelos Customer Success Managers Reena Quimosing, Michelle San Juan Global Production Manager Alicia Chin (on leave) Production Co-ordinators Kat Guzman, Loiza Razon SALES & BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT VP, Media & Client Strategy Dane Taylor Senior Business Development Manager Steffanie Munroe Business Development Manager Lynda Fenton National Account Executive Abhiram Prabhu CORPORATE President Tim Duce Events and Conference Manager Chris Davis Chief Information Officer Colin Chan Human Resources Manager Julia Bookallil Global CEO Mike Shipley Global COO George Walmsley EDITORIAL INQUIRIES tim.wilbur@keymedia.com SUBSCRIPTIONS CO-ORDINATOR Donnabel Reyes tel: 647 374 4536 ext. 243 donnabel.reyes@keymedia.com ADVERTISING INQUIRIES legaladvertise@keymedia.com canadianlawyermag.com/inhouse Canadian Lawyer InHouse is published 6 times a year by Key Media Canada (Law) Ltd. KEY MEDIA and the KEY MEDIA logo are trademarks of Key Media IP Limited, and used under licence by Key Media Canada (Law) Ltd. CANADIAN LAWYER INHOUSE is a trademark of Key Media Canada (Law) Ltd. All rights reserved. Contents may not be reprinted without written permission. The opinions expressed in articles are not necessarily those of the publisher. Information presented is compiled from sources believed to be accurate, however, the publisher assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions. Canadian Lawyer InHouse disclaims any warranty as to the accuracy, completeness or currency of the contents of this publication and disclaims all liability in respect of the results of any action taken or not taken in reliance upon information in this publication. Publications Mail Agreement #41261516 ISSN 0703-2129 ©2021 GST/HST Registration #799898465 RC-0001 RETURN UNDELIVERABLE CANADIAN ADDRESS TO: CIRCULATION DEPARTMENT 317 Adelaide Street West, Suite 910, Toronto, ON M5V 1P9 Key Media Canada (Law) Ltd 317 Adelaide Street West, Suite 910 Toronto, ON M5V 1P9 tel: +1 416 644 8740 www.keymedia.com ISSUE 16.05 | OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2021