Canadian Lawyer InHouse

17 CANADIANLAWYERMAG.COM/INHOUSE JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018 we have worked effectively to leverage our extensive knowledge about Payment Card Industry compliance with our property- owning clients to ensure they fully under - stand how meters and paystations need to be deployed and managed. That raises client confidence and pays forward into organic business growth. With cyber-insurance coverage, we're finding more and more companies have it and more clients are expecting it — those companies that we have operating agree - ments for parking lots. They could be in- stitutional clients or an individual with a surface lot that wants to put parking on it as they are holding it as an investment. We process credit cards for payment, so we need to make sure all of that personal information and sensitive information is protected. With the high volume, we just have to make absolutely sure our clients understand what PCI compliance looks like and that they work with us to make sure the systems are compliant. 4. WHAT IS YOUR PHILOSOPHY TO MANAGING THE IN-HOUSE LEGAL TEAM? For me, it boils down to maintaining a culture of encouragement in our department, which translates into exposing my team to interesting work, education and networking opportunities on the one hand and setting healthy boundar - ies on the other. We are a very collegial and service-oriented group and will readily go the extra mile to get something done, but some- times the appropriate answer to a request is not an unqualified "yes." Particularly in a sea- son of change, we need to safeguard our in- ternal resources for their highest and best use, and a department leader sometimes needs to "defend the base" accordingly. We don't have a U.S. lawyer on staff as yet, but I envision that will probably change. But even if we did, you still want the benefit of experienced M&A counsel. We're not ex - pected to be specialists that way. We are gen- eralists who look to create efficiencies. We are certainly involved in the big acquisitions be- cause we need to tell our firm how to run the diligence and what we want them to look for when they look at contracts. 5. HOW DO YOU APPROACH MANAGING THE WORK YOU DO WITH EXTERNAL COUNSEL? We use external counsel on our day-to-day work sparingly and will be even more sparing next year as we take a closer look at balancing the risks with the efficiencies. For specialty advice or litigation matters, we have tradi - tionally been happy with a fee arrangement. We prefer to retain counsel on an individual basis rather than have a relationship with na- tional or regional firms, but that may change as we grow. By and large, we don't have a one- firm mantra. We like to choose our counsel. With respect to alternative fee arrange- ments, I think it's something we need to pay more attention to, primarily with an eye to the U.S. because I think they are much more accepting of AFAs. It tends to not be as difficult a conversation there. It's a bit untested for us and certainly something to keep in mind. IH Untitled-1 1 2017-12-20 10:49 AM ANGELA FAMA

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