Canadian Lawyer InHouse

17 CANADIANLAWYERMAG.COM/INHOUSE JULY/AUGUST 2018 or our 13 th annual General Counsel Roundtable, we decided to focus the conversation on the impact of technology on in- house departments. Whether it's the day-to-day running of, and demands of the business, or looking forward to the impact of blockchain or artificial intelligence, in-house lawyers are feeling the pressure of figuring out what it all means to them, their teams and the business units they serve. They are dealing with the very basic and the very sophisticated at the same time. On the one hand, the in-house lawyers we spoke to for the roundtable are busy trying to make sure their teams have the technology needed to do their daily work more efficiently. Skype for business has revolutionized productivity for the legal teams at the Bank of Canada, Interac and Ontario Power Generation. While this has provided a more seamless path to collaboration, they all admit the "always on" cultures they work in can mean answers are expected faster than ever before. As Gordon Ackroyd of SecureKey Technologies pointed out, sometimes, one has to press the pause button before issuing an approval on an agreement that was "only drafted 14 minutes ago." At the same time, these legal leaders feel the need to explore what emerging technology is going to mean for their business units and how it can empower future transactions. Beth Gearing of McKesson (Rexall) Canada says she would like to see law firms use artificial intelligence to reduce the cost of due diligence on large transactions. "I think they are getting there on that front and I would be welcoming of a firm interested in using that kind of technology," she said. What was exciting to hear was that some of the in-house departments are embracing a process that Richard Brait, general counsel at Siemens Canada, introduced a few years ago — an innovation challenge conducted internally. As Jeremy Farr, general counsel at the Bank of Canada, said, "Part of our risk appetite mandate is to become more innovative, so if you want to do something new, you have to jettison something old or find ways to do it more efficiently and use other technologies to automate." This kind of approach is pushing the once-siloed legal team to collaborate with colleagues with different skillsets, such as IT. If it's one thing the group seemed to be in agreement about it's that having centralized systems for information in an-age-of-information overload has become a major challenge. Record retention and retrieval is top of mind for Farr and Gearing as well as Kikelomo Lawal of Interac. A proliferation of systems across a variety of different platforms that don't communicate with one another has become a major challenge for many organizations. Lack of centralized search prevents efficiency in responding to access to requests for that information. These general counsel are also looking ahead to how they will be able to leverage technology, not, as Lawal says, "for the sexiness of it" but to be able to free them to do "things that matter." Babin and Ackroyd are also clearly watching closely what law firms are doing in the tech space. They see them partnering with legal tech entrepreneurs and bringing them into their own incubators and see it as a way to have them do the experimentation they can then benefit from. I hope you enjoy the full discussion that follows. Visit canadianlaw - yermag.com/inhouse to view video coverage of the roundtable. Shelley Babin Vice president, law and general counsel Ontario Power Generation 15 full-time lawyers, two contract lawyers and three articling students. Jeremy Farr General counsel, corporate secretary Bank of Canada Legal team of eight lawyers and two paralegals. General Counsel Roundtable, leaders sectors discuss use of tech in-house. BY JENNIFER BROWN PHOTO: RAMESH PURADCHITHASAN

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