Flip Your Wig

Growing up in Montreal, Neil Sternthal drew inspiration from his parents who were always heavily involved in their community and its schools. As a law student at McGill, he volunteered at a downtown women's shelter, working alongside mostly Inuit women who had fled lives of violence and abuse in the North and landed in the first big city they could find. "That experience exposed me to some of the more important ways in which lawyers can have a positive impact in the world," Sternthal says. "They were educated, intelligent women in terrible situations, and we were able to help them understand and navigate the legal system." While he left the practice of law many years ago, his commitment to helping others remained with him. He carried it over to his work at Thomson Reuters - to New York City and back to Toronto. As managing director of the Company's legal division for Canada, Australia and New Zealand, Sternthal is keen to establish the organization as a leader in corporate responsibility and access to justice. "We provide legal information to professionals, law and accounting firms, legal departments, public and quasi-public institutions, universities and government agencies," he says. "As a Canadian Company, Thomson Reuters plays an important role in the community supporting access to justice for all. It's not only something we want to do, it's something we feel obligated to do as a good Canadian corporate citizen." Strengthening the rule of law is also the core principle of TrustLaw, the Thomson Reuters Foundation's global pro bono legal programme. TrustLaw connects the best law firms and corporate legal teams around the world with high-impact NGOs and social enterprises working to create social change. "TrustLaw expands by the week, and continues to receive support from some of the best Canadian law firms," he says. Already committed supporters of Pro Bono Students Canada, Sternthal and his leadership team are looking at other opportunities as well to target specific communities in need of support, such as Aboriginal women. "We have deep capabilities and resources at our disposal," he says. "As lawyers, we need to use these resources to make sure the legal system is not exclusive. And as a Company, Thomson Reuters can help to ensure that the system is accessible to all people within Canada who are in search of justice." Neil Sternthal FLIP YOUR WIG 15

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