Canadian Lawyer InHouse

SPONSORED BY: THIS YEAR'S PARTICIPANTS: I BY JENNIFER BROWN t used to be that in-house counsel for large organizations were recruited out of big Bay Street law firms or by virtue of having provided external legal advice for years to a client, they were asked to come inside to establish a corporate legal department. Thanks to the evolution of the in-house bar that model is changing. Over the last decade or so large organizations have been building their internal departments with the goal to "grow their own." As we learned in this year's annual Canadian Lawyer InHouse roundtable, for example, David Allgood, currently senior vice president and general counsel for Royal Bank of Canada, fully expects that as the senior general counsel in Canada's big five banks leave they will likely be replaced by in-house lawyers they have mentored themselves. The face and shape of in-house departments and the responsibilities they hold has become more sophisticated as the pressures from their business units dictates what is required of them and those they hire. The subject of law department management specific to staff and succession planning along with issues around regulatory matters were the topics discussed at the annual roundtable organized by Canadian Lawyer InHouse in co-operation with the Association of Corporate Counsel. The eighth annual InHouse/ACC General Counsel Roundtable included legal department leaders from a variety of sectors, all with varying issues to consider within their organizations. Some are not-for-profit while others are large public companies. A longer version of this discussion and video coverage of the event is available online at canadianlawyermag.com/inhouse. ILDIKO MEHES, vice president and general counsel Teva Canada MARK JOHNSON, general counsel, Infusion HARRIET LEWIS, university secretary and general counsel, York University ARIF AHMAD, vice president, legal affairs and general counsel, Re:Sound TRACEY DURAND, senior vice president corporate and legal affairs and general counsel, Sodexo Canada Ltd. DAVID ALLGOOD, executive vice president and general counsel RBC and vice chairman, Association of Corporate Counsel INHOUSE: What has been your approach to building a legal department and how have you overcome challenges along the way? DAVID ALLGOOD: When I took over the legal department at RBC it probably consisted of about 40 lawyers. There are about 180 lawyers currently. I think one of the biggest challenges I identified was that we were viewed as the black hats. In the early days, my focus was trying to change that and develop more of a collaborative attitude with the lawyers who were there to build the function around that, and we spent quite a bit of time doing business alignment surveys. We grew it by growing our credibility with the business units and then working to add to the group in what I think are the strategic areas with a competitive advantage inside. IlLDIKO MEHES: When I joined Teva I was the first Canadian lawyer hired in-house. My challenge was not dissimilar in some ways to what David explained — to set up a legal function that would have alignment and credibility with the business. I viewed my role as being a simple one: w w w. c a n a d i a n law y er m a g . c o m / i n h o u s e august 2013 • 19

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