Canadian Lawyer InHouse

27 CANADIANLAWYERMAG.COM/INHOUSE SEPTEMBER 2016 W hen you listen to the people who work with Tony Linardi you quickly understand why his nomination was selected by the judges as the winner of the Law Department Leadership, small departments category. "From thoughtful handwritten notes to 'shout outs' during legal team calls, Tony has mastered the art of apprecia- tion," says senior legal counsel Nicole Clark who put forward the nomination on behalf of the legal team at Golder Associ- ates Ltd. "Tony regularly recognizes the achievements of his team members. His masterful ability to recognize his team boosts morale and increases productivity." Linardi is general counsel, corporate sec- retary and principal of Golder Associates Ltd., a global organization providing con- sulting, design and construction services. In Canada, Linardi leads a team of eight across the country, which is made up of law- yers, contract specialists and a law clerk. He has also recently been asked to lead the provision of legal services for the com- pany's global mining region, which is sup- ported predominantly by fi ve lawyers and one contract specialist located in the United States, Chile, South Africa, and Australia. The team in Canada that he is directly re- sponsible for provides a range of legal servic- es including procurement, contract review, employment law, real estate, corporate/com- mercial, insurance, litigation management and more to the Canadian operations. Linardi recently led a "Making Legal Services Even Better" campaign to serve Golder better. "The legal team in Canada was unique amongst the corporate service departments, as all team members reported up to me as head of legal, as opposed to other corpo- rate services departments, whose members reported to the operations vice president or local offi ce manager," says Linardi. "When Golder initiated a 'nationalization' of their corporate services, I asked myself, how can I keep this high-performing team differenti- ated? I chose to focus on 'metrics that mat- ter' and to do that, we needed to understand what really mattered to the company." The fi rst step was to develop a mission statement, with involvement of every team member, considering what legal services added the most value to Golder. The second step involved the development of a fi ve-page questionnaire, which was used in a survey with every member of the legal team, speak- ing and interviewing seven people of vari- ous levels within the company. "This way, each member surveyed a cross-section of authority levels at Golder. Our survey focused on developing what mattered most to the corporation. When we analyzed the data, it was quite clear where Golder found value in the legal team's avail- able services, so I was challenged with de- veloping a structure that would maximize the value that the legal team could bring to Golder — and still provide challenging and meaningful work to each team member." The Making Legal Services Even Better Campaign, combined with the increased pressures on the business due to the decline in the resource sector, led to a new structure that focussed legal resources where they could add the most value, while at the same time unburdening some consultants from the lost opportunity costs that were incurred when they would perform quasi- legal functions. This allowed them more time to take part in client-facing activities and bringing in revenue. "But it wasn't just about freeing up the time of our consultants. The new structure and processes also enhanced how Golder under- takes projects and mitigates claims," says Li- nardi. "The contract review process ensures that project lawyers and contract specialists are involved at an earlier stage, and, more importantly, we have dedicated specifi c legal personnel to our top 20 key client account teams. This allows for a deeper understand- ing of the project and client needs, which helps our legal team better explain the risks to our internal decision makers, and help de- sign methods to mitigate risks, whether it be in the contract or through scope defi nition. This has led to increased engagement and acceptance between the legal team and op- erations, and it is likely that this model will be rolled out globally in 2017." Linardi was Golder's fi rst lawyer in Canada, and over the past 15 years, he says he has built his team. He meets every two weeks with each team member individually at "Focus on You" sessions to make sure they have personal alignment, and that each member is feeling challenged by the quality (not quantity) of their work. Linardi admits building a remote team has unique challenges, but most of them are overcome by encouraging consistent sharing of information and collaboration of ideas, until the process becomes a natural part of team dynamics. "This creates a collaborative team dy- namic that is not for all lawyers, but for those that believe in trust and collaboration, it provides a great mechanism for growth and leadership." IH CATEGORY: Law Department Leadership DEPARTMENT SIZE: Small department COMPANY: Golder Associates Ltd. Team focused in a global environment By Jennifer Brown Tony Linardi, general counsel, corporate secretary, Golder Associates Ltd. ROBIN KUNISKI

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