Canadian Lawyer InHouse

Dec/Jan 2014

Legal news and trends for Canadian in-house counsel and c-suite executives

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60-Second Snapshot community here," he says. "It's a beautiful city that is close to my heart." Shull's role is multifaceted. When he's not working on research he's busy facilitating board meetings or providing dayto-day policy advice. He waves off this workload as typical of a busy in-house counsel who needs to manage time effectively, but he takes the notion of practicing law, which he began after being called to the bar in 2009, with great seriousness. "I think the profession is sometimes the butt of jokes — people tend to have a negative view of lawyers. I never had that," he says. "I always thought of the law as an esteemed calling, and a noble profession. And the more time I spend in this career, the more I come back to that being the case." Urgent issues "The problem is that people committing cyber espionage don't leave a calling card. They don't tell you why they're doing it," he says. "There's no clear line between national security and economic interests." A government might use the Internet to get information about another country's nuclear reactor core, for example. Is that because they want to avoid the R&D costs of developing one themselves, or because they want to target that core for military purposes? "Trying to pretend like the rules will clearly differentiate between the two is a misnomer and, I think, a mistake," Shull says. Helping to resolve some of these debates gives Shull a particular sense of purpose in his work at CIGI, particularly with the possibility that some governments could wind up creating virtual border crossings to prevent espionage online. "I would say that the fears are realistic," he says. "The reason the Internet works so well and that we share in the knowledge is because it's free and it's open," he says. "Balkanizing the Internet or having certain states cut themselves off and their people off is significant. It will change the way that the Internet works." Shull is determined that if there are changes, they have to be for the better. IH T h e l aw ye r: Aaron Shull T h e c o mpan y: Centre for International Governance Innovation • raduated from the University of G Waterloo in 2004 with BA in history and political science and Carleton University's Norman Paterson School of International Affairs with Masters of Arts in international affairs • btained his LLB from the University O of Ottawa and LLM from Columbia Law School • as taught courses at the University H of Ottawa, Faculty of Law, and the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs • reviously worked at Edelson P Clifford D'Angelo Friedman B arristers LLP in Ottawa • ormer staff editor for the Columbia F Journal of Transnational Law Employment and Labour Lawyers Experience Counts. Referrals respected and appreciated. Shields O'Donnell MacKillop LLP 416.304.6400 65 Queen Street W, Suite 1800, Toronto, Ontario Canada M5H 2M5 Shields_IH_Apr_11.indd 1 www.ca na dia nl awy e r m a g . c o m / i n h o u s E december 2013/january3/1/11 10:04:5645 2014 • AM

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