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"I think he will go down as, if not one of the best, the best speaker." Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird While much of the speaker's role revolves around the proceedings in the House of Commons, the job entails much more than most Canadians real- ize. In addition to welcoming dignitar- ies to Parliament — including Queen Elizabeth II and U.S. President Barack Obama — Milliken represents the Commons abroad as the head of parlia- mentary delegations. He's also in charge of the parliamentary precinct, oversee- ing spending of $441 million and dis- creetly dealing with problems involving MPs, their staff, or House of Commons personnel. Milliken says his training as a lawyer SPECIALIZATION IN BUSINESS LAW Classes Starting in September 2011 Part-time, executive LLM program for practising lawyers and corporate counsel Taught by U of T Faculty of Law professors, together with top international faculty from INSEAD Business School, NYU School of Law, and Rotman School of Management. Supported by the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) - Ontario Chapter. contributed to his success as speaker. "You learn something about how to act as a judge and be neutral in mat- ters, I think, when you are working as a lawyer or being trained as a lawyer. I think that is very important for this job. You have to stay out of the battles that go on and appear to be neutral even if you have fairly strong views on some of the things that are being debated, you shut up and all that sort of thing. I think training as a lawyer helps very significantly in that regard." His legal training also contributed to his ability to draft rulings. "You read them through in advance and if the language appears to be one-sided or casting aspersions on somebody, you get that out of there and make sure it is worded in a way that is perceived as fair and impartial by the warring factions on the issue. Even if somebody is quite wrong you're careful not to condemn them. You make the point that the argument is incorrect but that's it." Audrey O'Brien, clerk of the House TIME: EVENT: For more information, call 416-946-7384 or visit: http://www.law.utoronto.ca/programs/GPLLM.html 30 JULY 2011 www. CANADIAN Lawyermag.com ntitled-2 1 6/7/11 9:32:13 AM of Commons and co-author of the latest edition of House of Commons Procedure and Practice, says Milliken "was almost uniquely gifted in terms of handling the times over which he presided in the House. It was a par- ticular pleasure for those of us who are the procedural professionals, if you will, at the House to have him at the helm, not least of all because he brought to our discussions and to our deliberations a depth of knowledge and a perspective that was very valu- able in addressing the issues that came up." She says Milliken was "masterful" in the chair, avoided becoming a dupe of the opposition and saw himself as a servant of the House, which contrib- uted to his success.