Canadian Lawyer 4Students

assistance to students, many fi rms will encourage students to work directly with the lawyers at the fi rm if they want to improve their research skills. is within their realm of expertise they can be incredibly valuable. Depending on the fi rm, they may prefer you ask the lawyers for help fi rst as it' students. LAW CLERKS: Th ese individuals are paralegals who can take the lead on some fi les, or assist on others. Th ey can be extremely helpful to a student and if a fi le s the lawyer's job to teach IN-HOUSE For in-house lawyers, roles are generally defi ned by the size of the organization, its core business, risk tolerance, size of the department, and whether it has multiple divisions or locations. Small in-house law departments tend to have less distinction between titles. GENERAL COUNSEL: Usually the top law- yer for the company (unless the com- pany has divisional general counsel), this person has a supervisory role over all lawyers in the company. Th e role in- cludes management of the department, department strategy, and budget. Th e GC aligns the legal department with the overall corporate strategy, works with other business unit executives, and over- sees major matters. CHIEF LEGAL OFFICER: Depending on the organization, this is essentially a general counsel with a more executive-focused title that puts him or her at the board table in an organization more focused on a c-suite structure. CORPORATE SECRETARY: Th is position is sometimes combined with the job of general counsel. Th e cor- porate secretary provides advice on cor- porate governance issues, particularly related to the re-election of directors and other shareholder action taken at an- nual meetings. Th e corporate secretary is a senior corporate offi cer with wide- ranging responsibilities, who serves as a focal point for communication with and between the board of directors, senior management, and the company's share- holders. Th ey are oſt en a confi dante to the chief executive offi cer, members of the board, and other members of senior management, especially on corporate governance matters. SENIOR LEGAL COUNSEL/LEGAL COUNSEL: Legal counsel is typically a more junior position and is usually someone with less experience working in-house. In some organizations "senior" legal coun- sel may simply mean more longevity either at the organizational level or in terms of when they were called to the bar. Senior counsel take on more com- plex fi les and generally have more re- sponsibility. Th ey may or may not have a formal supervisory role over the junior or management functions. Both gener- ally perform work for the organization in a functional role — for example, de- fi ned areas (i.e. based on expertise, ex- perience, etc.), such as litigation. ■ thenortonrosedifference.com World-Class, Worldwide Norton Rose Canada provides a world of opportunities for law students. Aside from being part of a truly international legal Untitled-5 1 C ANADIAN Lawyer 4STUDENTS FALL 2012 9 12-07-18 2:01 PM *

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