JULY 2015
18
INHOUSE
BY JENNIFER BROWN
F
or our 10
th
annual InHouse Annual
General Counsel Roundtable we
went to the great city of Montreal
where fi ve experienced corporate
counsel, who clearly love their work and are
passionate about the role they play in enabling
business, discussed at length the issues that
consume their days and what makes for
strong external law fi rm relationships.
From cosmetics and toys, to trains,
planes, and loyalty programs, these lawyers
represent some of the biggest brands
both in Canada and globally. Their legal
departments play integral roles in their
businesses and command respect from their
internal clients. It was inspiring to hear
Deborah Greenberg of Aimia — formerly
Groupe Aeroplan — talk about how the
business units have helped her make the
case to add additional legal muscle when
she, and in fact they, see what it can do to
help the enterprise overall.
And as they bring more specialized work
in-house and spend more time addressing
the demands of their internal clients, de-
ciding what gets sent to external fi rms is
becoming an increasingly complex process
and one they don't take lightly. Greenberg
and Bombardier general counsel Daniel
AN N UAL CANADIAN L AW YE R IN HOUSE G E N E R AL COU N SE L ROU N DTABLE
TH
These in-house counsel are shaking
up the landscape when it comes to
what they want
from external
counsel.
Daniel Desjardins
Senior vice president, general counsel
& corporate secretary
Bombardier Inc.
175 lawyers in 17 jurisdictions
Deborah Greenberg
Vice president, general counsel
Aimia, Canada
Six lawyers and an assistant
Nadia Petrolito
General counsel,
chief communications offi cer
L'Oréal Canada
Three lawyers and one
assistant/paralegal
The overseers of
enterprise
