Canadian Lawyer InHouse

oversees Russian gold mining operations) for Toronto-based Kinross Gold Corp., harshly criticized Canada's business com- munity in The Globe and Mail last year for what he called its "timid" and "chickenshit" attitude towards Russia. He said overblown fears of expropriation and other risk factors mean Canadians are missing out on major money-making opportunities there. "I agree 100 per cent," says O'Rourke. "Russia's had some problems. There's been some bad experiences there. But there's also a long-standing history there of a very sophisticated economy. They're a highly educated workforce with a lot of inherent capability. There aren't too many countries on the planet that have the capability to put human beings into space. I'm still in touch with our Russian lawyers, and I think Rus- sia is gradually coming out of that period of legal chaos in the 1990s that followed the collapse of the Russian state. They rec- ognize the importance of the rule of law — that you've got to be able to buy a piece of property, or borrow money and take nor- mal business risks, and know somebody's not going to take it away from you uni- laterally. I think they're becoming much more a part of the world community." In fact, Russia will enter the World Trade Organization this year, further open- ing access to a rapidly growing economy powered by vast natural resource wealth, and hungry for consumer goods, techno- logical know-how, and foreign partners to build and expand Russia's sprawling trans- portation, communications, and industrial infrastructure. So what do Canadian companies, and particularly their in-house counsel, need to know about doing business in Russia before taking the plunge? The first thing, says Paul Drager, one of Canada's most experienced legal minds on Russia, is to approach the country with an open mind, remembering that Russia today is not the chaotic, "Wild West" en- vironment it was 10 or 15 years ago. "The difference is enormous," says Drager, who once served as a trade official at the Ca- nadian embassy in Moscow, and is now a Calgary-based partner at Norton Rose Canada LLP, which merged this year with Canada's Macleod Dixon LLP. (In 1990, Drager helped Macleod Dixon become one of the first western law firms to open an office in Moscow. The firm now em- ploys 40 lawyers there, under the Norton Rose banner.) "Since then, not only has the political system changed, the currency is now very convertible, the banking system is relative- ly solid, and you have a much better un- derstanding by the Russians themselves of what international business is. In the past when you started working there, in the final years of the Soviet Union, it was all state-controlled entities. Now you have a private sector, which is extremely vibrant. In that way it's normalized to a substantial degree." Is working in Russia now roughly the same as operating in western Europe? "Regrettably, that's going too far," says Kinross's Naumovski. "Whether you're buying legal services there or mining gold, you need to remember that Russia is still an emerging economy. The key is to be SPECIALIZATION IN BUSINESS LAW Classes Starting in September 2012 Part-time, Executive LLM program for corporate counsel and practising lawyers Information Sessions Tuesday, April 10, 2012, 5:30 – 7:00 pm Thursday, April 12, 2012, 8:00 – 9:30 am Monday, January 16, 2012, 5:30 - 7:00 pm Friday, January 20, 2012, 8:00 - 9:30 am U of T Faculty of Law, Faculty Lounge 78 Queen's Park, Toronto No registration required. Please feel free to drop in anytime during these hours. Taught by U of T Faculty of Law professors, together with top international faculty from INSEAD Business School, NYU School of Law, and Rotman School of Management. For more information, call 416-978-1400 or visit: http://www.law.utoronto.ca/programs/GPLLM.html TIME: EVENT: Supported by the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) - Ontario Chapter and in partnership with Carswell, a Thomson Reuters business. GLLM_IH_Apr_12.indd 1 INHOUSE APRIL 2012 • 12-03-01 12:41 PM 21

• Cover