Canadian Lawyer

www.canadianlawyermag.com 41 and general counsel at EllisDon, oversees a 20-person legal department vital to the construction leader's operations. "We do everything. Any type of legal issue that comes up internally, we try to assist with," he says. For specialized areas, such as tax, they draw on external counsel. Casey's journey reflects steady growth. "Prior to [EllisDon], I worked on Bay Street for a couple of years … in a very different field in the financial services area" at Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP, he says. After private practice, he moved in-house. "After a couple of years, I just looked around and decided I was interested in moving to an in-house role." He joined EllisDon 14 years ago and rose to his current leadership role. A significant part of Casey's work involves litigation management and high-stakes contracts. "The infrastructure industry is litigious," he says. "There are tons of players on every project… It's just the nature of the business that things sometimes lead towards disputes." are appreciated, but outcomes are measured," she explains, highlighting the role of AFAs in delivering efficiency and predictability. AFAs help Interac forecast expenses and avoid unexpected legal costs, critical to tracking the profit and loss of each product. "The value of moving to AFAs, really the biggest value, is around better predictability," Gibson says. Her vision is for most legal work at Interac to be done through AFAs. A cultural shift is underway as the team builds a panel of preferred firms. "It starts here, The contracts themselves are complex. "Every construction project has a huge contract that is hundreds of pages," he notes. EllisDon's legal work also covers facility management, finance, real estate, capital projects, and equipment rentals. "You just have stuff coming at you every week. New challenges, new laws, new regulations, new corporate issues," he says. To manage complexity, the legal team uses technology like the AI-powered Provision platform. "It makes contract review quicker," Casey explains. He emphasizes trust in external partnerships. "The firms we go back to are those we trust implicitly," he says. Although sustainability isn't his department's main focus, his team helps with related legal issues. "My team helps [with] questions about certain legislation and requirements," he says. For Casey, the role's appeal lies in its mission. "Every day has a single mission, which is to help the company," he says. right with a shift in mindset ... having these discussions on the AFA before the law firm even puts pen to paper," she notes. Gibson also sees artificial intelligence as transformative for the legal profession. "We are on the cusp of a seismic shift in terms of adoption of AI," she says, with her team already using AI tools for routine tasks. Although AI's impact on AFAs is still evolving, Gibson believes it will boost predictability and collaboration. "I think it's going to be a real game-changer," she says. Gibson acknowledges AFAs are rare in Canada. "Very slow adoption," is how she describes it, criticizing the legal industry's resistance compared to consulting firms. "It's incumbent on clients like me to keep pushing ... to keep saying, 'I don't want to pay by the hour.'" She points to greater AFA uptake in Europe and the US, driven by client pressure. To ensure AFAs don't compromise service quality, Gibson encourages strategic partnerships and innovation like risk-sharing agreements. Still, success hinges on strong collaboration. "It's more work than just paying by the hour because you do have to sit down and focus on the collaborative aspect, the relationship aspect." MICHAEL CASEY Company: EllisDon Title: Chief Legal Officer Overseeing the construction giant's legal operations Michael Casey, senior vice president CONNI GIBSON Company: Interac Corp. Title: Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary Breaking the billable hour: the push for alternative fee arrangements Interac's chief legal officer, Conni Gibson, is driving her legal team to adopt alternative fee arrangements (AFAs), shifting focus from billable hours to outcomes. "Efforts

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