Canadian Lawyer InHouse

3 canadianLawyErmag.com/inhousE august 2014 www.canadianlawyermag.com/inhouse director/group publisher: Karen Lorimer karen.lorimer@thomsonreuters.com Editor in chief: Gail J. Cohen gail.cohen@thomsonreuters.com Editor: Jennifer Brown jen.brown@thomsonreuters.com staff writer: Arshy Mann arshy.mann@thomsonreuters.com copy Editor: Mallory Hendry art director: Steve Maver account co-ordinator: Catherine Giles advertising sales representatives Legal suppliers: Kimberlee Pascoe tel: (416) 649-8875 E-mail: kimberlee.pascoe@thomsonreuters.com Law firms: Joseph Galea E-mail: joseph.galea@thomsonreuters.com Grace So tel: (416) 609-5838 E-mail: grace.so@thomsonreuters.com Canadian Lawyer InHouse is published 6 times a year by Thomson Reuters Canada Ltd., One Corporate Plaza 2075 Kennedy Rd., Toronto ON. M1T 3V4 (416) 298-5141. Fax : 416-649-7870 web: www.canadianlawyermag.com/inhouse Linkedin: www.goo.gl/9tytr twitter: @CLInHouse Editorial advisory board: Sanjeev Dhawan, Hydro One Networks Inc.; Kari Horn, Alberta Securities Commission; Jonathan Lau, TVO; Janis Vanderburgh, York Region Rapid Transit Corp. All rights reserved. Contents may not be reprinted without written permission. The opinions expressed in articles are not necessarily those of the publisher. Information presented is compiled from sources believed to be accurate, however, the publisher assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions. Canadian Lawyer InHouse disclaims any warranty as to the accuracy, completeness or currency of the contents of this publication and disclaims all liability in respect of the results of any action taken or not taken in reliance upon information in this publication. publications mail agreement #40766500 ISSN 1921-9563 Copyright © 2013 H.S.T. Registration #R121349799 to subscribe or change addresses Call (416) 649-9585 Fax (416) 649-7870 or e-mail Keith Fulford at keith.fulford@thomsonreuters.com RETURN UNDELIVERABLE CANADIAN ADDRESS TO: CIRCULATION DEPARTMENT One Corporate Plaza 2075 Kennedy Rd., Toronto ON. M1T 3V4 Indexed in the Canadian Periodical Index By Jennifer Brown Editor's Box sEND YOuR news aND story ideas tO jen.brown@thomsonreuters.com innovating in-house W elcome to our fi rst issue dedicated to the innovation taking place in-house. Within the pages of this Canadian Lawyer InHouse we are honouring the win- ners of our fi rst Innovatio Awards, launched last fall as a program for and judged by Canadian in-house counsel. The concept was born more than a year ago when I began talking to se- nior corporate counsel across Canada about the idea of recognizing the work being done in-house to differently address the demands of business. While there are other in- house awards programs that recognize the efforts of corporate counsel, our idea was to look at specifi c projects initiated or completed in the last year and nominated by in-house departments (for the most part) and judged by those who really know and understand what would be ground- breaking efforts by the in-house bar. The judges we recruited come from large and small departments and were entirely supportive of what we wanted to do. They became more enthusiastic as I sent off the nominations for their review in February. What really pleased me was recieving nominations from law departments and in-house coun- sel not typically represented at association functions or other awards programs. Cisco, The Keg, 3M, Canadian Solar, TVO, Sasol Canada, Manitoba Telecom, Superior Plus — these are in-house organizations doing really interesting work with innovative leadership thinking about how to stay on top of their game. Yes, some big players are represented as well, such as RBC and BMO, who are blazing trails on the diversity and law department effi ciency and compliance front, but you also hear how small departments with limited resources, such as TV Ontario and Canadian Solar, are taking homegrown approaches to keeping work inside, saving money, and fi nding ways to lower their costs but also make processes more effective. You will also see where small departments like Manitoba Telecom even incorporated an ar- ticling student into its project developed to resolve outstanding litigation fi les. The great news we heard as we were putting the issue together is that the student — Stefan Bounket — is now a fi rst-year lawyer with MTS. Some of the projects made use of technology while others took advantage of new service delivery models such as the approach Cisco took with Conduit Law. The judges were also over- whelmingly supportive of Cisco's efforts to use an alternative legal services provider to fi ll fl uc- tuating demand at signifi cant cost savings. As one of our judges, Daniel Marion of Thales Canada, said: "It's a truly business oriented model that does not follow the traditional law fi rm/client relationship. It is a model that non- lawyers in a company can understand and measure. It is very simple and effi cient . . . and a one- third of cost saving is signifi cant without putting in place a complex mechanism." I hope you'll take the time to read the winner profi le stories and see if what they accom- plished might inspire a new project or process in your department. We also hope these stories will prompt you to consider putting forward a project your department has taken on when the nominations for Innovatio open again at the end of September. IH

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