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PROFESSIONAL PROFILE Sense of humour top commodity at TD Bank General counsel for TD Bank Christopher Montague is in the thick of an $8-billion pend- ing acquisition of U.S.-based Commerce Bank. How does he keep his cool? He says the key to his success is to take his work seriously, but not to take himself too seriously. By Bill Rogers W hy did Christopher Montague leave McCarthy Tétrault LLP to go in house at TD Bank? Both places are located in the same skyscraper in downtown Toronto — though McCarthys is higher up, near the top of the building, while TD's executive area is on the fourth floor. This simple fact holds the key to Montague's career change: "I didn't like all the stairs," he says. Wait a second — don't people take the elevator? Who cares about stairs? "Fire drills," he explains. "You have to take the stairs during fire drills. It's much easier down here." Other factors were at play when Montague moved to TD 10 years ago, of course. Fewer stairs to negotiate during fire drills may be a legitimate benefit, but when he talks about that, he's really displaying a keen sense of humour, a commodity he feels is beneficial to the workplace. "I like working with people who have a sense of humour," he says. "Take your job seriously, but don't take yourself too seri- ously. Fortunately Ed [Clark, president of TD Bank] and others here have a sense of humour. If Ed didn't have a sense of hu- mour, I might not be where I am today." So why did Montague leave McCarthys to join TD as general counsel? "I had a good relationship with TD," he explains. "And after 20 years of interesting work at McCarthys, I was looking for a change. And the opportunity to be the GC at one of the largest institutions in the country was worth taking a shot at. "It turned out to be far more interesting than I thought it would be." He's been doing a lot of deals lately, including an $8-billion pending acquisition of U.S.-based Commerce Bank, which will close in the spring, provided it gets regulatory and shareholder approval. "It's very exciting," he says. "It's a big deal. We already have TD Banknorth in the U.S. When you combine that with Commerce, we would have over 1,000 branches down there. We'll be a truly North American bank." C ANADIAN Lawyer INHOUSE FEBRU AR Y 2008 31