The most widely read magazine for Canadian lawyers
Issue link: https://digital.canadianlawyermag.com/i/1544922
40 www.canadianlawyermag.com INHOUSE INTERVIEWS FEATURE JENNIFER ARMSTRONG Company: TD Bank Group Title: General counsel, wealth and insurance Bringing a regulator lens to TD's wealth and insurance group Jennifer Armstrong recently joined TD Bank Group as general counsel for wealth and insurance, taking charge of legal support for two businesses the bank sees as central to its future. She describes these areas as a strategic focus for TD as the bank works to stay connected to clients while vast sums of assets move between generations, and fintech challengers compete for those relationships. The intergenerational transfer of wealth is already reshaping who controls financial assets, and Armstrong argues that incumbents cannot assume relationships will automatically pass from grandparents to parents and grandchildren just because legacy accounts sit on their balance sheets. She arrives at TD straight from the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization, where she spent five years as general counsel and corporate secretary, including leading the amalgamation of the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada and the Mutual Fund Dealers Association of Canada into a single national self-regulatory body in January 2023. That project forced her team to confront overlapping rulebooks and systems, as well as clashing institutional cultures and employee expectations, reinforcing her view that the real test of any major deal begins after the transaction closes, not when the documents are signed. "It's a journey, regardless of how clean the actual coming together of the two parties is," she says. Once CIRO was created, Armstrong had to knit together legal and compliance functions, public affairs, and corporate com- munications, while also running government relations and, for a time, risk management. Her regulatory experience also shapes how she envisions lawyers interacting with oversight bodies in a highly regulated sector, and she argues that transparency is the core principle for effective relationships with regulators, while trying to hide problems or delay engagement only makes matters worse. "It's okay to pick up the phone or send an email and reach out to the regulator," she says. PUJA KUMAR Company: Sagard Title: Partner, deputy general counsel & assistant secretary Leveraging legal tech to secure the Law Department Innovation Award Sagard's legal department clinched the Law Department Innovation Award at the 2025 Canadian Law Awards for its bold approach to legal tech and process transformation – a recognition that signals a shift in what it means to deliver value as an in-house legal team. "We were recognized not as gate- keepers but, rather, value-added business partners," says Puja Kumar, deputy general counsel and assistant secretary at Sagard. The accolade caps a remarkable trajec- tory: Sagard has grown from managing US$500 million in assets in 2016 to more than $32 billion in assets under manage- ment in 2025. Keeping pace with that growth demanded a legal function that could scale just as quickly. When Kumar joined Sagard, the legal team faced a core challenge: how to optimize pro- cesses in step with the firm's explosive growth. "You need to find ways to make things scalable. Otherwise, you're just creating an in-house mini law firm," she says. The answer was a relentless focus on process optimization and technology adoption, culminating in the development of in-house digital platforms that have slashed turn- around times and delivered measurable savings. At the forefront is the Sagard Marketing Assurance Review Tool (SMART), an AI-powered platform that transformed the firm's marketing compliance review process. What once took up three days and cost thou- sands in external counsel fees is now routinely completed within 24 hours – with annual savings exceeding US$250,000. Despite Sagard's enthusiasm, Kumar is clear-eyed about the challenges. Change management remains a hurdle, with adoption varying across the organization. "We have cat- egories of users – there are the super-users that are using it for every single workflow, the middle-of-the-road users, and those where old habits take time to change," she says. The solution is to train and foster a culture of experimentation through team-wide "show and tell" sessions where members present creative solutions to challenges.