Legal news and trends for Canadian in-house counsel and c-suite executives
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PROFILE By Vawn Himmelsbach Insuring a bright future Robin Richardson of RSA Canada talks about her successful career in the insurance business. In a world where it is getting rarer to see people stay with the same company for many years, Robin Richardson says being with her firm for 13 years has kept her continually challenged. Richardson is general counsel with Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance Co. of Canada, which offers property, automo- bile, and commercial insurance. But, she says, for a general counsel there's a lot more to the insurance business than insurance — from acquisitions to constantly changing regulations. "This is my one and only in-house job," says Richardson. "I came here and haven't looked back." And that's not what she expected when she first started out in her career. "When you start out you think you'll stay five years, but there's been so much change and challenge for me throughout the 13 years, it continues to fulfil me every day," she says. "What I like is I'm not just providing advice and then walking away. I get to see it go through to completion." RSA Canada employs 2,700 people and is represented by a large network of brokers across the country. It is a group of companies that includes Quebec Assurance Co., Western Assurance Co., Ascentus Insurance Ltd., Canadian Northern Shield Insurance Co., The Johnson Corp., Coast Underwriters Ltd., and Noraxis Capital Corp. Richardson started out at RSA in the role of legal coun- sel on a team of lawyers and was eventually appointed to lead the legal department. At that time, she also took over compliance, which meant she was responsible for develop- ing the firm's compliance framework. She then took on corporate secretarial responsibilities and, most recently, was appointed general counsel. She now heads all three functions, working with four other lawyers within Canada. "My priorities on a day-to-day basis are really defined by We are, at the end of the day, a service provider to the business, and as an external lawyer would be held accountable for their work, we are as well. ROBIN RICHARDSON, RSA Canada INHOUSE FEBRUARY 2011 • 43