PROFILE
Hockey lawyer
Robin Brudner combines her legal career with her passion for the Toronto Maple Leafs. By Jeremy Hainsworth
As a youngster, Robin Brudner lived, breathed, and dreamed hockey. It was the Toronto Maple Leafs that enter- tained her and cemented her in front of the TV on game nights. She cheered the likes of Lanny
McDonald and record goal-scorer Darryl Sittler. But nowhere in her wild- est dreams did she ever entertain the idea that one day she might see her own children on ice with her fabled team. Nowadays, the connection to her
favourite team is stronger than ever for the lawyer who is executive vice president, general counsel, and corpo- rate secretary at Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment Ltd. "Now, I work with Darryl," she says. "Lanny's my favourite player." However, to get to the executive suite,
Brudner trod a circuitous path between almost leaving the law and working in other entertainment law fields. The mother of two children, aged
13 and 10, received an undergraduate degree in psychology at York University, before studying law at Osgoode Hall Law School in 1987, and articled at Toronto's Epstein Cole LLP boutique firm before casting her eye onto the job market. "It was sports No. 1, entertainment No. 2," she says of practice areas that piqued her interest. But that wasn't the case when she entered law school. "When
In the board meeting, I'm the only woman there. It's still sports — lots of testosterone. ROBIN BRUDNER, Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment Ltd.
INHOUSE APRIL 2011 •
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SANDRA STRANGEMORE
