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MANAGING PARTNER Stikemans involved in UN program with firms from around the world BY GAIL J . COHEN S Q tuart "Kip" Cobbett is the chief operating officer and Montreal managing partner of 500-lawyer Stikeman Elliott LLP. His firm has recently become involved in a UN program with 14 other corporate law firms from around the world that are looking to identify whether and how national corporate law principles and practices foster corporate cultures respectful of human rights. He also talks to Canadian Lawyer about business and the current economic situation. How did Stikeman Elliott become involved in the UN-led program? We are focusing much more on community involvement and pro bono initiatives than we have in the past. We've identified it as a priority for the firm. Historically, we've had a lot of people involved in various activities but in the last couple of years we've felt we needed to bring a bigger focus to it, so we're paying more attention to it. One of our partners — a very good partner and a very senior partner, Ed Waitzer, a for- mer chairman of the firm — suggested that this would be a good thing for us to get involved in. We looked at it and we thought, 'yes.' Corporate social responsi- bility is a topic that has taken a lot of energy over the last little while and it's important, so we thought this was a good project for us to get involved in. Q You have a unique position being the managing partner and COO. Can you describe what you do in your position? It is kind of unique in the sense that Stikeman Elliott is a decen- tralized firm. Each office and each office managing partner has a high degree of autonomy. We want each office to react to their local market conditions. Each of our markets is very different. Montreal is a very different market than Calgary and different from Toronto and so on. One, we give our individual offices, as I say, a high degree of autonomy. But having said that we are a firm and we are one firm, so we've got to have some form of co-ordination. So a large part of my role as chief operating officer is to ensure that there is communication and co-ordina- tion among the offices. I work with Pierre Raymond, the chair, he is the CEO, if you like, of the firm. He has firm- wide responsibilities. He does not have any particular local responsibilities. He and I work together and I do whatever it is he wants me to do to make his job as chair easier. Fundamentally, it's co-ordi- nation and communication. Q How do you see the current economy affecting Stikeman Elliott? Like everybody else, there's been a decrease in the volume of work. Thankfully, we're still reasonably busy but it's an odd time because there's virtu- ally no visibility into the future. The last couple of years have been so busy that you could basically see three, four, five, six months out that you were going to be busy. We just don't have that kind of sense at the moment. It's all very much week to week and month to month. Q Is the recession having an impact in terms of hiring and retaining staff, particularly associates? For us at the moment, it's business as usual. In our Montreal office, we are embarking on our annual student recruiting program. It starts in March. We will be treating it as we have every other year. We expect to make the same number of offers to students and hire the same number of students as we always have because we're going to come out of this recession. So whether we come out of it in six months or a year and a half, who knows, we're always going to need Stuart Cobbett good young lawyers. We're not planning any hiring cutbacks at the moment nor are we anticipating any layoffs. And we've told our people that. Q What advice do you have for lawyers entering the profession right now? Keep your head down and work hard. If you enjoy the law, then you'll have a wonderful career as a law- yer. In society, there is a constant need for lawyers. There is a lot of govern- ment regulation, there are a lot of rules. The world is becoming increas- ingly more complex and increasingly more regulated and lawyers are needed to assist clients through all the regula- tions, let alone the whole issue of human rights and the rule of law, which are the bedrock of our society. It's a wonderful career, the practice of law. If you enjoy the law . . . and you're a lawyer, you're lucky because people who enjoy what they're doing are very fortunate. A law firm is a super envi- ronment. I wouldn't have come back to it if it weren't. To read more of STUART COBBETT'S interview with Canadian Lawyer, visit us online at canadianlawyermag.com www. C ANADIAN Law ye rmag.com M ARCH 2009 13