Legal news and trends for Canadian in-house counsel and c-suite executives
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of British Columbia will soon telephone because her son got into a car accident a few days ago. "That's just life," she says, laughing. When that's done, she needs to tackle the stacks of paperwork cur- rently scattered around her modest space. On one surface lies her "must-read" pile, comprising about 30 publications, from Benchers Bulletin to Truck Logger maga- zine, "full of nifty news and stuff you can get," says Giardini, visibly excited. She flips open a page and admires a logging truck. "Most all of this is interesting, except the pages of statistics." "Forestry is the backbone of our econ- omy," she says. "I adore going to operating facilities. Not only that, they are the life blood of the company, we exist to make sure those operations run successfully." ways. "Anne also continues to work on law matters here so sometimes she attends meetings for legal-related issues such as negotiating contracts with First Nations bands," says Deanna Stad, her legal assis- tant for the past 12 years. "She might discuss plans to harvest in their claimed area or negotiate how we can work with them." Like countless other firms, Weyerhaeuser has downsized over the past few years. Consequently, Giardini has taken on more work and she travels more often. "Whatever gets thrown on her desk, she will read it," says Stad. "On the flight to Toronto yesterday, she took 20 trade maga- zines, a handful of reports and law firm newsletters, and she'll read them all. Then She's the Energizer Bunny. . . . I have the utmost respect for her as a lawyer, wife, and mother. She worked her way up through Weyerhaeuser and she's still married to her fi rst husband with three great kids, and she is a true friend. CHARLOTTE BELL, Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP Giardini had a fascination with for- estry long before Weyerhaeuser hired her in Kamloops 15 years ago. She credits her civil engineer father with getting her inter- ested in heavy equipment, how things are made and how resources are used in our everyday lives. "I see his engineer approach to things, if there is a problem, you look for ways to solve it." That's advice well-taken in her new role. Giardini represents Weyerhaeuser in Canada and she is responsible for ensur- ing the company's overall compliance with all legal requirements, from finan- cial to environmental to sustainability issues. Although the forestry industry is suffering, Giardini says the company has certain advantages over its competition including liquidity, vision, and history. Weyerhaeuser has been operating for 110 years, and more than 40 of those years in Canada. Giardini's wide-ranging interests are a boon to Weyerhaeuser in all kinds of she will get to work and pull out a pile of reading material with several items dog- eared for me to distribute internally. 'Our financial guy should be aware of this, look at this new logging truck, someone else is doing biofuel, is there anything we can learn from them?' she'll say in one breath." Stad says she was really green when Giardini hired her. "Anne's way of testing me was taking me into her office where the floor was covered with little stacks of paper, all her filing was literally on the floor in organized piles. She asked if I could help her. 'Sure, no problem,' I replied. It was a set-up; she wanted to see if I would freak. This woman is a paper machine, she does a myriad of things and needs to keep track. She is a book person, and I think she likes the feel of paper. . . ." Even though Stad doesn't like the piles of filing, "It's a small price to pay, Anne has been a tremendous mentor and I consider her a friend." "She's the Energizer Bunny," says Charlotte Bell, her close friend and 60-SECOND SNAPSHOT THE LAWYER: Anne Giardini THE COMPANY: Weyerhaeuser Co. Ltd. Bachelor of Economics, Simon Fraser University Bachelor of Laws, University of British Columbia Master of Laws, University of Cambridge, England – Trinity Hall Called to the bars of British Columbia in 1986 and Ontario in 1990 From 1994 to 2006 she was counsel and assistant general counsel at Weyerhaeuser Co. Ltd., becoming vice president and gen- eral counsel in 2006. In October 2008 she was named president of Weyerhaeuser Co. Ltd. Prior to joining the forest company she was a research lawyer with: Torkin Manes Cohen & Arbus, Toronto, Ont., corporate counsel with Superior Propane, Markham, Ont., corporate-commercial associate with Blake Cassels & Graydon LLP, Dobson and Associates LLC, Milan and Rome, Italy, associate with Mawhinney & Kellough, Vancouver, B.C., and articled at Bull Housser & Tupper LLP, Vancouver, B.C. Currently Anne is working on her third novel, Anguish Pie. Her second novel, Advice for Italian Boys, was set to be published by HarperCollins in March 2009. Her first novel, The Sad Truth About Happiness, was published by HarperCollins/Fourth Estate, in Canada, the United Kingdon, the United States, and Australia in 2005. She is the daughter of the late Carol Shields, writer of the Governor General's Award win- ning novel The Stone Diaries. Anne is married and has three children from 14 to 20-years-old. INHOUSE APRIL 2009 • 31