What Danger Lurks in the Shadow of Brilliance?
Photo by Dustin Tray at Pexels By Murray Gottheil | May 11, 2023 Now that I have been retired for a few years, I sometimes wonder whether my experience as to how law firms work remains valid. Also, since I spent my days with medium-sized firms and not in Big Law, I occasionally worry that […]
Women’s General Counsel University creates sense of community for senior in-house female lawyers
Sandra Montanino is the program’s new executive director By Julius Melnitzer | May 10, 2023 A record 16 candidates will comprise the Women General Counsel Canada’s General Counsel University fourth cohort class, with Sandra Montanino as the program’s new executive director. Nine candidates from the third cohort graduated on April 21, while the first and second […]
Engineers Canada’s Seung Byong Light Go didn’t want to be a lawyer until he landed in-house
Go says the challenges at a professional organization are different than at entrepreneurial companies. By Julius Melnitzer | May 9, 2023 Seung Byong Light Go didn’t choose a legal career because he wanted to be a lawyer – but now delights in being one. “I chose law because it offered opportunities to do other things,” he […]
LOT Network provides startups with protection against patent trolls
Trolls seek to disrupt due diligence for startups seeking financing, suits have increased since 2016 By Julius Melnitzer | May 8, 2023 Pre-IPO companies and startups in earlier financing cycles need their due diligence to go smoothly. No surprise, then, that a recent study has found that while patent litigation initiated by operating companies has declined […]
Settlement counsel: a little-known idea that appeals to many in-house counsel
Ralph Cuervo-Lorens says hiring yet another lawyer for dispute resolution may be counterintuitive, but clients like it By Julius Melnitzer | May 2, 2023 Just about any legal department would concur that legal costs are high enough, thank you. The prospect of adding another lawyer to the dispute resolution team is, at best counterintuitive, at worst, […]
How will crypto disclosure rules impact federally regulated pension plans?
By: Julius Melnitzer | April 25, 2023 In its 2023 budget, the federal government announced plans to require that federally regulated pension plan sponsors disclose their cryptocurrency asset exposure. To that end, the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions will be consulting with impacted organizations on the content of the forthcoming guidelines. “Just how these guidelines […]
BMO legal department’s pro bono efforts cross borders
Theresa Ducket says it’s not difficult to get buy-in for pro bono from her team By Julius Melnitzer | April 21, 2023 Law firms seem to do a much better job touting their pro bono work – not to mention themselves – than do in-house legal departments. Surprising it may be, then, to discover that more […]
FCA rejects privilege for end product where claimant fails to show how document reveals legal advice
The danger is that CRA can use end products to reverse engineer legal advice By Julius Melnitzer | April 19, 2023 A recent Federal Court of Appeal decision has done little to assuage the uncertainty as to whether and when legal advice “end product” is subject to solicitor-client privilege. In BMO Nesbitt Burns Inc. v. Canada (National […]
Critical minerals sector will have to wait on speedier timelines for development
By: Julius Melnitzer | April 18, 2023 Ottawa has made critical minerals development a centrepiece of its economic agenda, but when it comes to the bureaucracy surrounding impact assessment and other permitting processes for major projects, much is still up in the air. The March 28 federal budget proposed a raft of measures to advance the sector, seen as […]
Kashif Zaman, VP, legal at Toronto-Dominion Bank, on his new formula for success in-house
Zaman says integrating his M&A group with other departments is his proudest achievement so far By Julius Melnitzer | April 13, 2023 Serendipity and career path often intertwine – which is how Kashif Zaman finds himself helping steer the ship as vice-president, legal at the Toronto-Dominion Bank. Called in Ontario in 2002, Zaman articled at Torys […]