Canadian Lawyer InHouse

60-SECOND SNAPSHOT has about 10 employee networking groups in the U.S. from women to veterans to pan-Asian). This provides an open forum to talk THE LAWYER: Tracey Durand about issues of interest to the group — and in this case, the group also includes men. "We encourage men to join," says Durand. "The diversity journey is about everyone understanding the need for diversity . . . Most consumers are women, and a lot of our clients are women, so we wanted the opportunity for men to learn about issues that impact women so they could be bet- ter at the jobs they are doing. Durand volunteered to help develop the company's corporate social responsibility plan, called the Better Tomorrow Plan, where she saw an overlap between the legal, compliance, and ethical side of gen- eral practice with health, wellness, and impact on local communities. "It was synergistic with what I was doing in a legal role, even though it was not strictly legal, In addition to her regular legal duties, " she says. That led to a focus on aboriginal rela- " tions — a focus specific to Canada (the company is in about 80 countries). Among its clients, Sodexo represents mining and resources companies, and core to the com- pany's business in remote northern areas of Canada is partnering with aboriginal groups (Sodexo is gold certified under the Progressive Aboriginal Relations program by the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business). This includes pro- viding employment, training, and support to aboriginal partners. But in order to do that, says Durand, there has to be some understanding and cultural awareness of how business on traditional lands will impact those com- munities — rather than just writing a cheque. "Quite frankly we have a crisis in aboriginal communities in health and wellness and education," she says. A mining or resource company will typically come to an agreement with affect- ed communities, called an impact benefit agreement, which implies the community should get some benefit — and not be negatively affected — by the company's work on their lands. "We are proactive in seeking out part- nerships with aboriginal communities to work with them, and they are true part- THE COMPANY: Sodexo Canada • Earned her law degree at Osgoode Hall Law School and was called to the Ontario bar in 1994. • Spent eight years working as a commercial litigator before moving in-house. • Found the right fit at Sodexo Canada, a company that focuses on "quality-of-life" solutions. • Chairs Sodexo's women's network- ing group and is executive director of the Sodexo Foundation, the compa- ny's charitable foundation that focuses on feeding hungry children. • Developed the company's Better Tomorrow Plan, which involves work- ing with aboriginal communities in the Far North to improve health, wellness, and education. nerships in the sense that each party gets benefit and not just financial benefit," says Durand. She' tor role for the company's charitable foun- dation, called the Sodexo Foundation, with a goal to fight hunger in Canada. The foundation runs a number of programs throughout the year, primarily focused on feeding hungry children, including a pro- gram that runs during summer months in major urban centres. "That program is designed to provide s also taken on the executive direc- healthy lunches to children who during the school year are on lunch programs and who otherwise might be at risk of not hav- ing healthy lunches in the summer, Durand. It involves supplier partners and thousands of volunteers across the coun- try, from employees to clients, who make sandwiches and pack lunches. Given her love of advocacy, it makes " says legal career. That's how she ended up at Osgoode Hall Law School (after a year at the University of New Brunswick) and started her career as a commercial litigator. For eight years, Durand worked as an associate for Toronto firms, includ- ing Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP and McMillan Binch Mendelsohn LLP (now McMillan LLP). While she loved litiga- tion, she was also keenly interested in the business of her clients. "As I was working cases, I was always wondering what does this result mean for my client at the end of the day? How is it going to impact their business?" she says. While considering her next career move, Durand wondered how to best apply her legal training in a business con- text. "I absolutely did not want to give up being a lawyer, I wanted to do both, so I decided to go in-house, was very challenging at the time to move from a litigation role to an in-house role. A lot of people — including recruiters — said it couldn't be done. "I almost was told no, you can't make this leap. But I don't believe that." As a commercial litigator, Durand " she says. "That " had learned corporate-commercial con- cepts and had seen what challenges could arise with commercial documents. In the end, she landed a job at Compass Group Canada. Durand was the company' in Canada, and from 2001 to 2007 she built a legal team of three. Then she took a year off to spend with her two young children and consider her next move, which she thought would be part of a much larger legal department. But an interesting role came up with Shred-it, a document-destruction company. Not long after she started though, an opportunity came up at Sodexo. This was an industry she had an affinity s first lawyer for, so Durand made the leap in November 2009 to become Sodexo' sense that Durand started her career as a litigator. "In law school I loved advocacy, I still love it to this day — loved the trial, the courtroom," she says. "I absolutely saw my law career as a commercial litigator. University of Western Ontario, but decided a law degree would give her a broader base from which to launch a business or Durand studied business at the " for Canada. Once again, she was the com- pany' s general counsel ment," she joked. For Durand, the best part about moving in-house is feeling like she's part of the busi- s first lawyer. "I'm a glutton for punish- ness but realizes it may be somewhat unique. "Not all roles within companies get to have that global view and think about what the company stands for, what we want to be and how we want to grow, " she says. IH INHOUSE WWW.CANADIANLAWYERMAG.COM/INHOUSE AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2012 • 37

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