Legal news and trends for Canadian in-house counsel and c-suite executives
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CLOSING • A roundup of legal department news and trends Minor receives bar association award for excellence Janet Minor, general counsel for Ontario's Ministry of the Attorney General, has been named the recipi- ent of the Ontario Bar Association's Tom Marshall Award of Excellence for lawyers working in the public sector. Minor, who has been counsel at the Ministry of the Attorney General since 1989, will receive the award on April 19 in Toronto. The award celebrates outstand- ing achievement of Ontario lawyers who work in the public interest. The Outside law firms can access ACC Value Index Law firms have begun to access the Association of Corporate Counsel Value Index, designed to allow in-house counsel to give reviews of outside law firms. The AVI was introduced at the ACC's annual meeting last October in Boston. While the rating system has garnered a great deal of interest from in-house counsel, there are already more than 1,500 individual reviews on the site, law firms have questioned why they could not view responses. "It was anticipated," says president Fred Krebs about the ACC's intent to let firms see their ratings. "We were surprised by the reaction when we launched this and how it was going on, but it was intended that we would be releasing the information . . . we weren't talking about it because we were focused on, and still are really, trying to get the evaluations in so it would be a robust tool." There had been criticism that law firms had no access to what was being said about them, according to Peter Zeughauser, the ACC's former national chairman in the U.S. In an article in Corporate Counsel magazine, Zeughauser said the main criticisms are the evaluators are anonymous and the outside law firms being critiqued couldn't see what was said. He also questioned the am- biguous nature of the questions being asked. Andrew Fleming, a Toronto partner at Ogilvy Renault LLP, says the anonymity is good. While he welcomes the opportunity to see rankings of his firm — there have been two already — he says the system's value is increased if in-house can comment freely. "It is my understanding there is no attribution so you don't know who said it," he says. "So if I'm in-house counsel and I feel particularly strongly one way or the other, happy or sad, I'll be able to do something for the benefit of my fellow members and also for the benefit of the firm. I think it's great." Going forward, law firms will be able to access their AVI ratings and the aver- age ranking in each category for all firms. However, they will not be able to view other firms' ratings or the names of the clients that completed the survey. specific selection criteria take into account mentorship, organizational contributions, legal contributions in the areas of public policy and legisla- tion, and commitment and service to the public. She has worked in public law since 1977, first at the Crown Law Office Civil and since 1989, in the Constitutional Law Branch. She has argued many significant public law cases before all levels of court. She is also a bencher of the Law Society of Upper Canada. "Janet's most distinguished career is a testament to her commitment to excellence in the public sector, to the legal profession, and to the broader community," said Cheryl Milne, chair- woman of the OBA's constitutional, civil liberties, and human rights sec- tion, who nominated Minor for the award. 46 • APRIL 2010 INHOUSE Valerie Hughes appointed director legal affairs WTO Secretariat Canadian Valerie Hughes has been appointed as director of the legal affairs division of the World Trade Organization Secretariat in Geneva, Switzerland. Hughes had been a partner with Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP and Ogilvy Re- nault LLP prior to joining the Canadian government. While with government, she held the roles of assistant deputy minister and counsel to the federal Department of Fi- nance. Hughes, a University of Ottawa law graduate, also held senior executive posi- tions in international law and international trade law with Justice Canada, Finance Canada, and Foreign Affairs and International Trade. For weekly INHOUSE news and updates go to: www.canadianlawyermag.com/inhouse