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MANAGING PARTNER Ponder following on in Oslers' line of progressive firm leaders BY GAIL J . COHEN five offices, including one in New York. She took on her management role just over three years ago, and while Ponder is one of the rare women in the top ranks of law firm management in Canada, she is not the first in her firm. She also continues her M&A practice while jug- gling management duties. Ponder talks to Canadian Lawyer about women in leader- ship and her role at Oslers. D Q Q Tell me a bit of the background of how you became managing partner of Oslers. I had been involved in various man- agement roles for the firm over the years preceding this, so this role was prob- ably viewed as a pretty natural evolution for me by the firm. That said, when our executive committee asked me to take on a managing partner role originally, I was taken somewhat by surprise as I was a relatively young partner and fully im- mersed in my practice at the time. Will you continue to practise while you are managing partner? Under the management model we've now had for some 10 years or more, we have two firm managing part- ners who continue to practise. We split the function of the management role so that we each have different portfolios. My role's primary focus is clients, part- ners, and strategic direction generally. The second management role focuses on operations, our associate lawyers, and our practice group structure. When our clients need us, we're there for them and we're fortunate to have strong resources to back us up on the management side of things. Q As one of the few women leading a the hurdles you had to overcome? ale Ponder is the managing partner of Osler Hoskin & Harcourt LLP, which has about 475 lawyers in I didn't have to blaze this particu- lar trail, since Jeanie Fraser, one of our senior corporate partners, preceded me in this role some years earlier. Going further back, our firm has had a num- ber of women in senior leadership roles, leading some of our largest departments and in various management roles, so women in leadership actually has been a continuing attribute of our firm for some time. Looking back, this, like so many things, is a question of "tone from the top," and so I have progressive firm leadership from our past, as well as our present, to thank for our firm perspec- tive on these kinds of issues. Q What do you feel are the challenges and rewards of managing your firm? I'm an M&A lawyer and have al- ways been interested in business and how businesses are run, so I have to say that one of the rewards has been the learning curve associated with extending myself outside of the comfort zone of the practice of law into the business of law. I would also say that my role allows me a pretty unique opportunity to get to know our people, our practices, and our clients very well. With a firm the size of ours, and with the practice and geographic scope we have, that's not always the easi- est thing to do as a full-time practitioner. We have a team-based approach to prac- tice at our firm, and among the most gratifying things in this role is seeing how much we can accomplish as a firm and for our clients when we turn our minds to a goal and work at it together. Q Does Oslers have any special programs or groups for its women lawyers? We're fortunate to have two great resources on this at our firm — our director of professional development and the director for our associate lawyer program. Together they have helped us develop various programs for all of our professionals, including programs focused on the professional development DALE PONDER of our women, that I think help to dif- ferentiate our firm. Two examples of this would be our longtime participation in the Rotman program for senior women leaders known as "The Judy Project," and, more recently, our sponsorship of a pro- gram co-led by the University of Toronto law school and Rotman for the profes- sional development of our senior women associate lawyers. Q What advice would you give to young women lawyers just starting their careers? Law is a great career. If you're intel- lectually curious, it ranks among the top choices you can make for the long term. However, we all need to find the right balance for us personally and, from my own experience, people's defi- nitions of balance can be pretty individ- ual. I think women need to be strategic in actively planning for both their pro- fessional careers and their personal aspi- rations and the necessary intersection between the two. Mentors can also make a huge difference, so I would encour- age women at all levels to actively seek them out. To read more of DALE PONDER'S interview with Canadian Lawyer, visit us online at canadianlawyermag.com www. C ANADIAN Law ye rmag.com JUNE 2008 13