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www.canadianlawyermag.com 35 HARRY GOUSOPOULOS Company: Tribunals Ontario Title: Executive director and supports so all of our users can fully participate," he says. The organization rolled out computer-access terminals, a mobile terminal program, and a phone program to ensure no one is left behind. Backlogs at the Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB) and Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario (HRTO) are the main focus. When Gousopoulos joined in 2020, four tribunals faced entrenched backlogs. Now, 10 out of 12 are not only meeting but often surpassing service standards. The License Appeal Tribunal and Social Benefits Tribunal have cleared their backlogs entirely, leaving only the LTB and HRTO with outstanding issues. At the HRTO, mandatory mediation is now standard, aiming to resolve more cases early and free up resources for hearings. "Our experience with mediation is that over half of them will resolve at an early stage," he says. For Gousopoulos, speed is non-negotiable: he's focused on tearing down barriers and accelerating resolutions, and won't consider his work finished until the backlogs are gone. Driving digital transformation and cutting tribunal backlogs Decisions in administrative law significantly impact people's lives, and the speed of tribunal cases gives lawyers a rare chance to see the full arc of a matter. That's the core appeal of government legal work, according to Harry Gousopoulos. "Government is a great place to work as a lawyer… Typically cases before administrative tribunals move much more quickly from start to finish than in civil litigation, so you get the chance to see a lot more from start to finish," he says. As executive director, Gousopoulos is overseeing Tribunals Ontario's digital overhaul. "We've overseen a fundamental transformation of our tribunals from an in-person, paper-based approach to a digital-first model with hearings conducted by video by default," he says. Most users support virtual hearings, but Gousopoulos insists on accessibility. "We have to make sure that we're providing alternatives ity standards, and regulatory shifts are arriving constantly. However, Lefaivre cautions against a purely reactive approach: "The discourse around these different elements... has changed a little bit, but the actual regulatory landscape may not necessarily be changing as quickly," she says. Her team's sophistication – compris- ing regulatory specialists across all divisions as well as a dedicated global affairs group – helps separate signal from noise. Quick adaptation matters, but so does factual analysis. The real inflection point isn't regulatory, though. It's technology. Lefaivre spends con- siderable time thinking about AI integration. La Caisse is piloting tools across the legal depart- ment, and the results are catching the atten- tion of key stakeholders. One advantage of running a larger legal department is the ability to experiment responsibly, but Lefaivre is also mindful of avoiding suffocation in bureaucracy. "We have a strong focus on agility and being able to try stuff without making it unnecessar- ily administrative because there is a question of time here," she says. For her investment lawyers specifically, AI unlocks something beyond efficiency. The department has a decade of market data and deal history. Accessing it in real time across the entire dataset could shift how the organization positions itself. "The full breadth of what we have is going to unlock not only efficiencies but also consistency and moving certain things forward," she says. MICHÈLE LEFAIVRE Company: La Caisse (Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec) Title: Première directrice, affaires juridiques, actifs réels, crédit et actions Scaling assets while staying lean: how judgment, communication, and AI skills will propel the team At a firm managing nearly half a trillion in assets, growth is no longer measured in headcount. Michèle Lefaivre, who leads a team of 30 lawyers at the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec covering all asset classes, knows this reality intimately. All indi- cators point to exponential growth in the years ahead. Since headcount won't grow at the same rate as assets, this creates an opportun- ity for innovation within the legal team. Managing regulatory change requires a balanced perspective. The landscape looks chaotic from the outside – ESG, sustainabil-