Legal news and trends for Canadian in-house counsel and c-suite executives
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[ ON THE ROLE OF THE LEGAL DEPARTMENT ] INHOUSE: I would like to discuss the role of the legal department in these initiatives. Does anybody here have a high involvement? KINASTOWSKI: I guess, from my perspective, so much of our work is dealing with various sorts of corporate social responsi- bility, be it from green initiatives to climate change initiatives to even homelessness. We have that role, as well, to ensure that our staff comply with provincial regulations in terms of, for example, the water standards, which are so important to everybody. But from our perspective, as the city wants to take on new initia- tives and bring in new regulations, we are a key member of every corporate team. Every initiative that comes for- ward from the city has a lawyer that is involved somewhere, somehow, providing advice, en- suring that it is set up in such a way that it is defendable legally, that it works, strategic help, as well as the legal help. MELENDY: We have a corporate social responsibility commit- tee, of which several members are from the legal department, and then we have various members from all areas of the com- pany, like our supply chain group, our operations group, our customer facing group. We get together on a monthly basis and discuss various initiatives within the area of corporate so- cial responsibility and how it impacts the company. ARMSTRONG: I think, in Bruce Power, it is fair to say that it is really our executive team that manages and monitors our corporate social respon- sibility program. We have a number of management committees on which the law division is represented. I am a mem- ber of our executive team, but I am also a member of our internal code of conduct committee, which provides oversight in terms of the administration and manage- ment of our code of conduct program. I am also a member of our corporate sponsorship committee that determines how we respond to sponsorship requests from our local communities. But, virtually, every part of our organization is in- volved in one way or another with addressing corpo- rate social respon- sibility obliga- tions. INHOUSE: In the past, corporate counsel often played that supporting role and were sometimes seen as the roadblock. Do you see that role changing, where you are making more strategic decisions? MELENDY: Well, certainly in the area of corporate social re- sponsibility — because it is not a legal requirement in many cases — you are going beyond the legal standards. I think a strategic direction is very important. In Celestica's case, because the legal department has taken an active role in the area of cor- porate social responsibility, we are being looked to for strategic advice in this area, especially when you are going beyond a legal standard. So, we can advise, "OK, legally we have to get to point A," but, when you want to go beyond point A, we are very much looked towards to provide guidance and direction in that area. KREBS: Let's say that you have made a strategic decision that you, amongst your suppliers, that you want them to have high standards in their labour relations, and you don't want them using child labour, or you don't want them paying below-mar- ket wages, or whatever. If you are going to do anything more than simply say, "Th at is a good thing," and it is more than just an aspirational statement, the law department has to be involved. And the law department would play a critical role because it would be in the context of your supply agree- ments, your purchase agreements, and the language of your leases, or whatever it is to force it down or to move it into the supply chain. And so, that is a factor where, conceivably, the law department may or may not have been involved in the strategic setting of that goal, but they are going to be a critical component in the achievement of that particular goal. C ANADIAN Lawyer INHOUSE OC T OBER 2008 15 FRED KREBS president Association of Corporate Counsel KINASTOWSKI city solicitor City of Toronto ANNA