Canadian Lawyer InHouse

ROUNDUP • A roundup of legal department news and trends Deloitte has withdrawn as a signatory to A Call to Action Canada, the organization working to promote diversity in the legal profession. At its fourth annual conference in Toronto May 8, co-founder Joy Casey announced that Deloitte and its general counsel in Canada, Ken Fredeen, had withdrawn their support from ACTAC, but would remain as members of Legal Leaders for Diversity, an organization of in-house counsel also promoting diversity in the legal departments of some of the largest corporations in the country. Fredeen is a co-founder of Legal Leaders for Diversity Canada. Deloitte signed on with ACTAC in February 2010. To date there are 11 signatories to its mission statement. Meanwhile, Legal Leaders for Diversity now has 60 general counsel as members after one year. "Ken has indicated he is very commit- " A Call to Action Canada los es Deloitte meaningful interest in being diverse." about resources and time and not about ACTAC' Fredeen says the decision is accountable to diversity initiatives. "I and Deloitte have limited time and resources. I have never just lent my name to some- thing, rather, when I commit I give it my all, s mandate to hold firms more Lawyer InHouse. "The LLD approach has always been " he said when contacted by Canadian inclusive, meaning that we see the issue of a more inclusive legal profession to be one of co-operating and work- ing together, elevated the importance of diversity to lawyers and law firms. A natural con- sequence will be more business. The approaches of the LLD and ACTAC are different, but I will let others determine which approach has been more suc- cessful. " says Fredeen. "We have ted to Legal Leaders for Diversity and it is a question of priorities," says Casey. "The decision of Deloitte to withdraw is unfor- tunate, and a little hard to understand. Phebe Neely Ciulla, senior manager at Deloitte North American Financial Advisory LLC, was to be a featured speak- er at the conference, but withdrew as a result of Deloitte ending its membership with ACTAC. Casey notes that unlike ACTAC' sion statement, Legal Leaders for Diversity doesn't stipulate consequences for law firms that don't demonstrate a dedication to diversity. As part of its mission statement that s mis- Just over half of Canadian general " all counsel consider a law firm's policy on diversity when retaining external lawyers, according to an online Quick Poll of the Association of Corporate Counsel's Canadian members. When asked how important a firm's diversity policy is to their decision- making process, • 16.5 per cent of those who voted said: "Extremely important, we have a diver- sity policy and try to steer work to law firms that have one as well"; • 18.7 per cent said: "Very important, we actively promote diversity and look for law firms that do as well"; and • 15.6 per cent said: "Important, diver- sity is a factor in our decision-making process." Just under half, 49 per cent, said they do not consider diversity in the decision-making process. The ACC did not reveal how many GCs responded to the poll. Dan Caldarone takes on GC role at Second Cup The Second Cup Ltd. has a new general counsel as Dan Caldarone leaves the in-house department at Cara Operations Ltd. to join the Canadian-owned specialty coffee company. Caldarone will serve as general counsel, corporate sec- retary, and vice president of human resources for the company. Second Cup is Canada's largest specialty coffee café franchisor and signatories sign, A Call to Action requires in-house counsel to: ". . . pledge to make decisions regarding which law firms rep- resent our companies based in significant part on the diversity performance of the firms." It also states that, "We intend to look for opportunities to direct work to firms which are controlled by, or have a substantial number of, partners who are women or minorities." Finally, the mission statement stipu- retailer with 359 cafés operating under the trade name Second Cup in Canada. All but 10 of those stores are franchised in what is a highly com- petitive coffee market. Caldarone joined Cara Operations in 2008. Cara is the owner and franchisor of restaurant brands including Swiss Chalet, Harvey's, Kelsey's, Montana's, and Milestones. Prior to going in-house at Cara, Caldarone was a partner at Aird & Berlis LLP. His primary focus at the law firm was business and franchise law. lates, "We further intend to end or limit our relationships with firms whose per- formance consistently evidences a lack of He says he was drawn to the position at Second Cup not only because it was a step up into the general counsel role but also because it puts him at the executive management table. "At Second Cup, there is a senior management team of seven and the general counsel is one of the people that make up the senior management team, so for me it's not only a step up into a general counsel role but also a step into the executive management team," he says. INHOUSE WWW.CANADIANLAWYERMAG.COM/INHOUSE AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2012 • 7

• Cover