Canadian Lawyer InHouse

Jun/Jul 2012

Legal news and trends for Canadian in-house counsel and c-suite executives

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drives behaviour. "I think that if we were to formalize it, we would have to be setting certain goals, certain targets for ourselves as a group. We' put in place certain, either biweekly or monthly tracking, so it would become much more formal in terms of how we viewed it and how we went after that money, d have to Lawless anticipates that litiga- tion will play a secondary role in the " he says. process, with some recoveries possibly being as simple as finding money owed, asking for it, and receiving. Burt also stresses that DuPont's recovery initiative is not a litigation program. Instead, he says, when busi- ness disputes arise, corporate coun- sel try to resolve issues through early intervention, early case assessment, alternative dispute resolution and prin- cipal-to-principal communication. five in-house lawyers, it is tough to figure out how to divide up the responsibilities that come with a program of this nature. Indeed, ments, another possible deterrent to tak- ing on a recovery program is critical mass. At DuPont, for example, which has for Canadian in-house depart- more than 200 in-house counsel, a recov- eries core team makes a yearly estimate of a reasonable goal for the year' ATLANTIC LEGAL TELEPHONE DIRECTORY 2012-2013 CONNECT TO ATLANTIC CANADA'S LEGAL NETWORK Get names, mailing addresses, e-mail addresses and phone numbers for lawyers and law offices in all four Atlantic provinces. Compiled by the respected directories group, the Atlantic Legal Telephone Directory is your source of essential Atlantic Canada legal contact information. In addition to up-to-date and accurate listings for lawyers and law offices, you also have quick and easy access to: • • • • Perfectbound • June 2012 One time purchase $37.50 L88804-586 On subscription $37.50 L88804-586 Multiple copy discounts available Prices subject to change without notice, to applicable taxes and shipping & handling. • • • • • • • • Law & barristers' societies Canadian citizenship courts Courts of appeal Federal Court of Canada • Government of Canada departments and regional offices incorporated municipalities judicial districts and judicial officials land registration and information services The Associations of Land Surveyors The Law Foundation provincial government departments boards and commissions university law faculties ... and much more. Visit carswell.com or call 1.800.387.5164 for a 30-day no-risk evaluation the work to the right people. "I think that most Canadian depart- ments have thinner or smaller s definition, and channelling eries, and a hub of individuals is tasked with keeping track of every individual recovery, deciding whether it meets the company' departments and it's going to be more s recov- Still, says Lawless, as a smaller group of legal of a challenge to get that involved, hand in hand with the businesspeople, simply because you just don't have enough bod- ies," says Podrebarac. Also, says Dhawan, in-house coun- sel may be required to take on a larger role when starting a recovery program. "Definitely the law department would have to have folks that understand the businesses' processes, they have a very strong business acumen, and they're not afraid to be dealing with folks that are on the operational and business end of the world, because you're asserting your legal rights in perhaps some very innovative type of ways. So, I don't think it's for everyone, you have to have the right team," he says. As such, going over and above ordin- ary corporate counsel functions to move toward revenue generation may require extra hires. "If you're going to start aggres- sively asserting your legal rights, let' then that's going to definitely take some s say, resources. And then a question becomes, do the benefits outweigh the costs of those resources," says Dhawan. Gail Lilley, a partner at Blake Cas- CANADIAN LAW LIST sels & Graydon LLP, says that some Canadian in-house counsel also ques- tion whether there is, in fact, an end- less pipeline of recoveries within com- panies. For example, if the legal depart- ment has some initial success but is unable to find other areas where there are potential recoveries, will that be negatively viewed? 32 • JUNE/JULY 2012 Atlantic - 1-2 island.indd 1 INHOUSE 5/7/12 3:44 PM

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