Canadian Lawyer

CROSS EXAMINED The road less travelled From Grand Falls to Geneva, McCain VP and treasurer David O'Brien has enjoyed an unconventional career. BY JENNIFER BROWN Even after 40 years as a lawyer, David O'Brien says he is always learning new things. J University of New Brunswick law school in 1973, O'Brien, now vice president and group treasurer with McCain Eurocenter NV based in Geneva, started articling at a small private practitioner. But it just wasn't meant to be. He changed gears and moved to the office of the director of public prosecutions for the province of New Brunswick. "I was married and it was the highest paying articling job I could get. It wasn't because I had a burning ambition to be a prosecutor. It was about earning $35 a week with a private firm or $435 a month with the prosecutor's office, " he recalls. "I never . David O'Brien will tell you he really didn't know what path his legal career would take after law school, but he knew fairly early in the game he didn't want to be in private practice. After graduating from the thought for a moment about practising law in private practice. I quickly learned I liked being corporate counsel. When your billing rate is zero, demand for you is infinite, Jones Canadian Corporate Counsel award in 2007, left the in-house counsel role at McCain Foods Ltd. five years ago when he took on the role of VP in the company's corporate finance depart- ment. He has been with McCain for 21 years, moving from the management of a group of Canadian factories (from French fries, pizza, and vegetables to juice) to the legal department. Working in-house, O'Brien found he had greater ability to implement his advice. "You know the business and you're on the team. It's infinitely more satisfying than anything outside would have been to me, O'Brien, who won the Robert V.A. " he says. " he says. 20 OCTO BER 2012 www.CANADIAN Lawyermag.com had a cousin who got a law degree and an MBA, which inspired him to look at business as a career. "He told me about the versatility it gave him. It sounded pretty exciting. I went to law school fully knowing as soon as I was called I would do an MBA. I had that much of a plan but it pretty much ran out after that," says O'Brien. After obtaining a Master of Science When he was at university, O'Brien in Business Administration from the University of British Columbia in 1974, he served as counsel to the Canadian Transport Commission's Air Transport Committee in Ottawa. From there he went to work for Transair Ltd., an air- line in Winnipeg, working as counsel and corporate secretary for three years. The external counsel to the airline was now Supreme Court Justice Marshall Rothstein. "He was my first exposure to

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