TD’s Kashif Zaman says it will be a while before AI makes a workload impact for legal departments By Julius Melnitzer | July 26, 2023 The squeeze on general counsel and legal departments has reached new heights, according to The General Counsel Report 2023, a joint white paper from global consultancies FTI Consulting, Inc. and Relativity. “For […]
Her 13-member litigation and employment department is responsible for both Canada and the US By Julius Melnitzer | July 25, 2023 When Lesley Lee, director of litigation and employment law at TC Energy, decided to move in-house from her private firm practice, focus is what attracted her. “I enjoyed private practice, but liked the idea of […]
Sunny Handa says cybersecurity is an enterprise risk, not just an IT risk By Julius Melnitzer | July 24, 2023 At first blush, readers of Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP’s Canadian Cybersecurity Trends Study 2023 might take heart in discovering that 2022 did not see steady growth in the number of cyberattacks. “The number of attacks […]
Photo by Alex Fawzy at Pexels By Murray Gottheil | July 22, 2023 Law firm partnerships like to project the image of a cohesive unit. One strategy that they employ is to insist that although partners may disagree with each other in a partners’ meeting, once they leave the room, they all must support the group’s […]
By Julius Melnitzer | July 20, 2023 New U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission listing requirements that impact compensation clawbacks could create conflicts with domestic employment laws for Canadian companies listed on U.S. stock exchanges. The rules are expected to take effect on Oct. 2, 2023, with compliance mandated by Dec. 1, 2023. They require all […]
Photo by Maureen T. McKay By Murray Gottheil | July 19, 2023 So imagine that you are a newbie lawyer working for a firm. When your were looking for your first job, nobody told you that the most important consideration was to work for a competent person of good character, so you chose your job […]
By Julius Melnitzer | July 18, 2023 The “working from home” controversy, it appears, is no less intense among legal departments than it is elsewhere. The degree of the divide is evident from the breadth of the opinion spectrum: at one extreme are traditionalists on this issue like Fernando Garcia, who has over 15 years […]
Photo by JJ Jordan at Pexels By Murray Gottheil | July 16, 2023 This is for the young folks looking for jobs in private practice early in their careers. Here is what matters and what does not matter so much. Ignore this at your own peril (and I am sure that a great many of you […]
Fernando Garcia, Andrea Wood By Julius Melnitzer | July 13, 2023 A few years of experience at a law firm, previously considered a must – or at least an advantage – may have lost some of its lustre for lawyers seeking in-house careers. “Things have changed, at least a bit,” says Fernando Garcia, who has over […]
Photo by Inguaribile Viaggiatore at Pexels By Murray Gottheil | July 12, 2023 Let’s say that you get arrested and are in deep doo-doo. Would you rather ask for advice from an experienced criminal lawyer or a recent graduate? The answer sounds obvious, doesn’t it? And yet, when I was practicing law, I would often see […]