Legal news and trends for Canadian in-house counsel and c-suite executives
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worth of research on an annual basis. So when Evans made the transition from private practice, she was blazing a new trail. "There are very few hospitals in Ontario that have their own in-house legal department," she says. "The big Toronto hospitals tend to have at least one lawyer on staff, but that's a rela- tively new phenomenon." SickKids had a few lawyers on staff responsible reviewing contracts when research was being contemplated — if, for example, a pharmaceutical com- pany wanted to partner with a doctor at the hospital to conduct research. subjects to decide whether they met all the ethical standards for research. That was her introduction to SickKids. "I had a great deal of respect for SickKids from what I had seen sit- ting on the research ethics board, and thought it would be a huge challenge to come into an organization that hadn't looked at a holistic approach to legal services from an in-house perspec- tive, to help them envision that," says Evans. Now, as the director of the legal services program, Evans supervises a team of three lawyers and a law clerk, on the research front as well as the At times it can be stressful, but at the end of the day when you feel like the work you're doing is support- ing an organization like SickKids achieve its mission of healthier children, it's a good feeling. You feel like you're giving back in a meaningful way that's directly affecting the lives of kids. — MEGAN EVANS, Hospital for Sick Children 60-SECOND SNAPSHOT THE LAWYER: Megan Evans THE COMPANY: Hospital for Sick Children Evans graduated from the University of Windsor law school in 1997 as a gold medallist, meaning she had the top marks in her class over three years. She was called to the Ontario bar in 1999. Evans articled for Goodmans LLP in 1997-1998, and worked as a lawyer focused primarily on commercial litigation. But a few of the firm's clients happened to be hospitals, retirement homes, and long-term care facilities, and this piqued her interest in the health-care sector. The amount of research being done by hospitals has grown exponentially over the past 10 years, and the health-care sector itself is complex. It is also a regulated industry and, as such, there's a ton of legislation and government policy to navigate. So SickKids decided to bring on in-house counsel at a more senior level to lead the group of lawyers already there, but also to analyze and assess what was more broadly required across the orga- nization in terms of legal services. As a lawyer in the health law group of the Toronto office of Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP, Evans volunteered with SickKids by sitting on its research ethics board. Once every few months, she'd attend meetings to review pro- posals for medical research on human general commercial operations of the hospital — from new programs to partnerships to contracts with third parties. "When you're coming into an orga- nization that doesn't have an estab- lished legal function, you have to be a diplomat," she says. "There are people who can't wait for the lawyers to show up — they can't understand how such a sophisticated organization has oper- ated as long as it has without in-house counsel." There are those at the other end of the spectrum who feel lawyers are going to slow things down and gener- ally make their lives more difficult. "So you have to be mindful of that and show the value you add from the minute you walk in the door, and get In 2000, Evans left to pursue a career as a lawyer in the newly cre- ated health law group of the Toronto office of Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP, advising hospitals, pharmaceu- tical companies, and other health- care-related organizations on a broad range of health-related legal and policy issues. Her volunteer work with SickKids on the research ethics board led her to become the hospital's first-ever director of the legal services pro- gram in September 2007. Evans co-authored Canada Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act Quick Reference, 2004 Edition. people to see that you're there to facili- tate them, not to act as a roadblock." SickKids already had a department of quality and risk management, which INHOUSE JUNE 2009 • 43