Legal news and trends for Canadian in-house counsel and c-suite executives
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and get the type of value from it that Shorten advocates. As one half of a two- person law department at the insurer's Moncton, N.B., office, he also serves as chief privacy officer, chief complaint officer, chief compliance officer, and anti-money laundering officer. That wide-ranging role has forced him to spend weekends and evenings reading relevant case law and other informa- tion required to stay sharp. "It's hard to find the time to do it, but that's part of our job; to keep ourselves up to date," he notes. Despite the challenge to find enough time, he also believes law society-man- dated CPD — the Law Society of New Brunswick requires 12 hours in a cal- endar year — falls far short of what any responsible in-house counsel would complete. He estimates that he spends approximately fives hours every week on CPD, whether it be attending a seminar, reading case law, legal publications, or consuming e-bulletins from law firms. on the domains of law that we need to follow." Of course in-house counsel are well- advised to view professional development with a wide-angle lens. Howard Kaufman — a former vice president, legal and exter- nal affairs and secretary at Xerox Canada Inc. — urges those interested in moving to a position that is more business-focused than law-centred to focus on CPD offer- ings that build those skills, whether it's law society-accredited or not. He also suggests it's wise for such law- for a broader range of skill training, or continuing education in the largest sense, to make them better as lawyers and better as business people, because that makes them more valuable to the organizations they work for." Moreover, says Kaufman, it's vital for in-house counsel to embrace the fact that it's unlikely they will serve the same function within the organization forever, or even stay with the organization for their entire career. So although general counsel or other lead lawyers in the legal It's hard to fi nd the time to do it, but that's part of our job; to keep ourselves up to date. CHARLES GERVAIS, Assumption Mutual Life Insurance Co. department will set CPD goals for their workers, it's up to each counsel to look out for what's best for their own career and embrace the fact that law is a learn- ing profession. "To me, if you look at it as a burden, you might be in the wrong profession," he says. "It's obligatory for any lawyer to keep themselves excited about their profession, so you've got to learn. You can't just sit back. Trying to improve what they know, to do their job better, should be the most important incentive they have. That should excite them the most." If all of this isn't enough to motivate Gervais says he's particularly apprecia- tive of the latter resources, which most law firms produce as a complimentary resource to clients. "Law firms provide great analysis, insight, and information about forthcoming changes" to the law, he says, urging other in-house counsel to take advantage of it. "These law firms are key in helping us keep developing and maintaining our level of knowledge yers to spearhead a project within their organization that is primarily non-legal in nature. "Seems to me, that's a great way to develop your project management skills, your management skills generally, and you learn something about the subject matter the project is about," says Kaufman, who now acts as counsel to Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP. "I actually think the in- house counsel have a better opportunity in-house counsel to look at CPD as more than an onerous, regulator-imposed waste of time, here's a final nugget of food for thought from Shorten: over the course of his career, he's noticed that the most voracious participants in CPD are typically those who reach the upper echelons of in-house practice. "What happens is people recognize good tal- ent," he says. "Those candidates have all the right qualities, but they also are willing to stay on top of the topic that helps their internal client, and they do that through education." IH INHOUSE JUNE 2011 • 41