Canadian Lawyer InHouse

MAY/JUNE 2018 26 INHOUSE tion partner at Blake Cassels & Graydon LLP. Occasionally, she says, she gets a call from a client who wants to "gut check" their approach because they have taken on something in-house that they maybe should have sent to an external firm. "We're start- ing to see the scope of work done internally changing at some clients and I think that affects our work in a few ways. I do have cli- ents call to use me as a sounding board for matters they are handling themselves. If you are the only litigator or one of a few in an in-house department, sometimes you need an external adviser to talk through difficult decision points with you or just to add some objectivity to some decisions you're making in your own litigation." On larger files, Beagan Flood finds that if a client is also a litigator they will often want to be more involved in the litigation strategy at a much more granular level. "We tend to talk through the pros and cons of various options and work out the strategy in collaboration rather than me giving them a recommendation and them giving me in- structions," she says. Taking on more litigation in-house can bring added pressure for those lawyers at companies where they have decided to sup- port the business units in their quest to de- fend more actions internally. "When you're representing your own team, I think it's harder to be objective about what the risks on the other side are — in part because you are representing your own business team," says Beagan Flood. "I think one of the advantages of going to an external adviser is that they can look at the counter-arguments with more objectivity and don't have the same personal pressures based on defending their colleagues. Some of my clients are very aware of that and will call and describe the fact scenario and say 'Have I drunk the Kool-Aid? Or do I have as good a case as I think I do?'" The litigation working experience with clients is developing in a number of ways to become quite different, and some firms have found that there has been opportunity for new types of work. "We've seen a shift in the last 10 years and you really have to invest in the front end of a discussion about where everyone wants to go and what the options are and what are the costs," says Gillian Scott, partner, client relations and business development litiga- tion at Osler Hoskin & Harcourt LLP. I think one of the advantages of going to an external adviser is that they can look at the counter-arguments with more objectivity and don't have the same personal pressures based on defending their colleagues. Some of my clients are very aware of that and will call and describe the fact scenario and say 'Have I drunk the Kool-Aid? Or do I have as good a case as I think I do?' CATHERINE BEAGAN FLOOD, Blake Cassels & Graydon LLP Visit gpllm.law.utoronto.ca Questions? gpllm@utoronto.ca Apply today. ONE YEAR | PART-TIME | FOR LAWYERS AND BUSINESS LEADERS Master the Law. Canada's leading law school offers a graduate degree in four unique streams: Business Law Canadian Law in a Global Context Innovation, Law and Technology Law of Leadership ntitled-5 1 2017-08-17 3:02 PM

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