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25 canadianlawyermag.com/inhouse April 2015 a challenge to get women to the top of the organization," she says. Some companies have set diversity tar- gets, with executives' annual bonuses tied to those targets, "so you're starting to see those types of initiatives taking place," says Quann. Many of the banks, for example, already have strategies and metrics in place around diversity. "A lot of us will be bor- rowing from them," she says. But it has to be seen as a business imperative, she added. The banks were doing this before it was mandated because they saw a business case for it. "If you're using a headhunter, you have to tell them you want to have a candidate pool that's very diverse," says Quann. "You have to make sure [women] are given leadership development." But there's also a misperception that there are no women in the pipeline. "Why don't you think of senior women lawyers in law firms?" says Quann, adding that many have experience in everything from securities to M&As. "They've worked with boards, [and] a number of women are very senior and may possibly be thinking of retiring. Senior in-house lawyers are used to working with management," she says. "I'm suggesting to folks that this might be a pool of can- didates that is very sophisticated, comfort- able working at the top of the house, and also [understands] governance at the board level." There's also an assumption that people with private-sector experience can make contributions to non-profit or public boards, but not the other way around. "Running a hospital or university is actu- ally in many respects way more compli- cated than running a corporation," says Cukier. "You're having to balance interests in ways that are very different than the private sector." And there happens to be a higher per- centage of women in agencies, boards, and commissions in hospitals, universities, and large NGOs who could make a contribu- tion to private-sector boards but are not considered, says Cukier. "You are picking from a relatively small pool [if you're only looking at the private sector]." The question is, if in three years time there hasn't been enough progress, what's going to happen? In the European Union, for example, slow progress with voluntary measures to increase the number of women on boards resulted in a 40 per cent quota imposed on European boards. "The underlying expectation is if we don't see enough progress the belt buckle will tighten," says Leblanc. "I'm not sure [the voluntary rules] are enough to stimu- late progress, so we cannot rule out quotas." And one female on a board is not an indicator of success; research indicates boards need at least two to three women in order to effect change. Indeed, Leblanc has advised some women to move to Europe, because they have better opportunities there. "You want the best people in that room," he says, "and there are incredible women CEOs that are not being asked [here]." CONNECT WITH IN-HOUSE COUNSEL COLLEAGUES AT LEXPERT.CA/CCCA Check out in-house counsel's best networking tool! The 2014/15 Lexpert CCCA/ACCJE Directory & Yearbook online edition is a user- friendly, outstanding key resource for all in-house counsel. Along with immediate access to more than 4,000 listees at more than 1,900 organizations, you'll DOVR´QGIUHVKHGLWRULDOFRQWHQW information on deals and links to important resources. Directory listees and CCCA members can also receive log-in credentials for access to detailed contact information to be able to connect with colleagues or research the in-house bar. ANYWHERE. ANYTIME. ON ANY DEVICE. Untitled-4 1 2015-03-02 9:12 AM

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