22 S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 5 w w w . C A N A D I A N L a w y e r m a g . c o m
ydia Bugden has a panoramic view
of the legal profession that no other
female lawyer in this country has
ever seen. She's looking down from
the top. On Aug. 1, Bugden
made legal history when she
became CEO and managing
partner of Stewart McKelvey
— the first woman in Canada
to take the c-suite reins of a law firm.
The uniqueness of her new position
is not lost on Bugden, but standing solo
on the CEO podium was never a goal
for the University of New Brunswick law
graduate. "You don't grow up saying, 'I
want to be a role model,'" Bugden said
in an interview with Canadian Lawyer.
Still, she acknowledges women are not
a familiar sight in the upper echelons
of a law firm. "It's a rare role now for a
woman. It's not something I thought I
would be doing."
As a 17 year old fresh out of high
school in Halifax, Bugden knew her
future was in law. That definitiveness did
not derive from watching her surgeon
father but from listening to the judge she
babysat for and other lawyers in her fam-
ily circle. They recommended a com-
merce degree as a first step toward a legal
career. Bugden followed their advice.
When she finally landed in Fredericton
as a first-year law student at the Univer-
sity of New Brunswick, the experience,
she says, "was everything I wanted."
Two things appealed to the future
CEO: the professional and the intellec-
tual environment. "It's about ideas and
executing on those ideas," says Bugden.
C R O S S E X A M I N E D
The view
from the top
Lydia Bugden is the fi rst woman
CEO at a law fi rm in Canada.
By donalee Moulton
L
JAMES
INGRAM
/JIVE
PHOTOGRAPHY
