Legal news and trends for Canadian in-house counsel and c-suite executives
Issue link: https://digital.canadianlawyermag.com/i/50887
INDUSTRY SPOTLIGHT "You become quite attached to your projects because you work on them from the beginning. Whether it's delivering gas to homes in Ontario when it's minus 30 or keeping the lights on in markets from Alberta to Ontario to New England, it's quite a satisfying feeling." and chief compliance officer, TransCanada Pipelines Ltd. the go as it does in early 2008. They in- clude projects in pipelines and energy, liquefi ed natural gas, and gas storage throughout North America. All told, the company has invested "tens of billions" of dollars into them. Its Alaska pipeline alone is worth between $25 billion and $40 billion, he says. McMaster says TransCanada's in- house team of 60 lawyers is juggling a wide range of duties, including fi nanc- ings, regulatory work, and contract ne- gotiations. "Pretty much everything we do is very capital-intensive, and we've got to come up with fi nancing for those projects. We're one of the more active capital- markets participants. We continuously have to raise more money and pay out the old money. We have $25 billion in debt, that's more than many countries," he says. McMaster says there's no sign of the workload letting up anytime soon, ei- ther. "Our lawyers have been going full-out for a couple of years now and they've got two-plus years of going full-out to look forward to," he says. McMaster says its lawyers get involved in major projects virtually from their in- ception and work on them throughout their entire lifespan. From development through to construction and operations, that could mean a 20- or 30-year connec- tion. "You become quite attached to your projects because you work on them from 28 APRIL 2008 C ANADIAN Lawyer INHOUSE the beginning. Whether it's delivering gas to homes in Ontario when it's minus 30 or keeping the lights on in markets from Alberta to Ontario to New England, it's quite a satisfying feeling," he says. The in-house legal team is just as oc- cupied over at Shell Canada Ltd. David Brinley, general counsel and company secretary for the Calgary-based inte- grated petroleum fi rm, says its 45 lawyers currently have a "huge swath" of legal work on their desks with large projects in different phases of development. They're busy doing regulatory applications, en- vironmental work, negotiating arrange- ments with contractors and construction fi rms, and acquiring land. He says Shell's large retail presence in particular — it has about 1,600 stations in every province except Newfoundland and Labrador — requires a signifi cant amount of land and lease work. It's a dynamic network, he says, because sta- tions are being added in or taken out at any given time. He says there is also a lot of environmental work to do in terms of keeping the stations, which contain many potentially dangerous products, clean. The marketing regulations and truth- in-advertising rules differ from province to province on the retail side, he adds, all of which poses an exciting challenge for lawyers, he says. "Every market is a little different. Can- ada is a big country and there's a broad scope of work. The downstream work is closer to the everyday public. The brand and reputational issues are quite impor- tant. That's the face of Shell to Canadi- ans. It's relatively high-profi le work. You get everyday people going in and out of those stations," he says. Brinley says Shell also has to ensure it maintains positive relationships with various First Nations when exploring and producing oil. "Most of the time it's complying with Canadian law, which requires us to have discussions with those groups before- hand if we're going to conduct activi- ties that impact traditional lifestyles," he says. Despite the fact Alberta's government announced a controversial new royalty structure in the fall that would increase its take from the oil and gas sector by more than $1.4 billion, the fallout has yet to reach the legal level, he notes. Brinley says one of the great things about being part of a sophisticated legal department with global operations is the opportunity to work around the world. "There is international demand for Ca- nadian lawyers because they come from a sophisticated legal market. They've seen the entire range of legal activities, from litigation to regulation. They will always have value on the international legal market," he says. Rick Beingessner, vice president and general counsel of oil and gas explora- tion company Nexen Inc., agrees and says its 34 lawyers aren't confi ned to working out of its Calgary head offi ce. In fact, it has lawyers doing service contracts and government relations in