In-house ACCess : In-house ACCess: Association of Corporate Counsel : ACC : The In-house Counsel Bar Association

Howie Wong is general counsel and corporate secretary at Toronto Community Housing, the largest landlord in Canada. Prior to joining Toronto Community Housing in 2005, Howie was a M&A lawyer for 19 years with Gowlings, a national Canadian law firm.

I paused at the hanging goblins and smiling jack-o’-lanterns in the lobby. Did I get off on the wrong floor and end up in a daycare? I looked at the lobby door again—“Office of the Assistant Deputy Attorney General”. Hmmm…this is the place, Malliha Wilson’s office.

Malliha Wilson is the chief litigator for the Province of Ontario. Her title is Assistant Deputy Attorney General, Legal Services Division, which means she oversees the Province’s internal law firm of over 900 staff. I recently sat down with her for a brief discussion on the topic of diversity.

Malliha comes from a family of public servants and lawyers. She has been a government lawyer for over 24 years. She rose swiftly through the ranks with stints as Legal Director, Ministry of Labour and Director of Crown Law Office Civil before her appointment 3 years ago to her current position. She loves being a litigator, and still logs a third of her time duking it out in court.   

When she first started with the Ontario public service in 1987, there were few diverse lawyers (and obviously no diversity programs!). Malliha attributes her success to hard work and a collegial environment second to none. “I was by far the youngest lawyer in my group. I worked hard, but was also treated so well. It was a nurturing culture where senior lawyers mentored and trained young lawyers. I spoke my mind, but, that never deterred my bosses from giving me the best legal work available anywhere.”

She continues, “Due to our size now, we have to be much more structured in our mentoring and training. A manager is designated to oversee diversity—although, we don’t keep diversity stats.” When seeking new lawyers, the Province casts its net wide advertising in all diverse communities and the law schools.

“The key touch stone in our hiring is equal opportunity and access” Malliha is crystal clear about affirmative action and hiring quotas. “I don’t believe in them. Applicants should get in solely on merit and ability.” In particular, she doesn’t think diversity should be a consideration in hiring. 

To which I responded with my two cents on the sticky subject, by saying, it’s not fair to say diversity shouldn’t be a hiring factor. Barrier free hiring isn’t good enough. It’s a jungle out there and we need diversity to level the playing field.

Silence. 

The Province’s chief litigator sat for a moment before taking a deep breath and replying,

"Government lawyers are governed by the same business principles as the private sector. There is a direct correlation between value added quality legal services and getting paid. Candidates should be evaluated on their merits. Diversity can't be the only factor; otherwise it isn't sustainable for either the lawyer or government.” 

Whoa! I quickly change the subject to hanging goblins and elicited a smile from Malliha.

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by Martine Turcotte, CLO of BCE, and Zygmunt Jablonski, CLO of Domtar

Click here to download the French Translation (pdf) of this post.

As general counsel for two different kinds of clients, there are many things that distinguish our respective roles. One of us has a large department, one has a smaller department. One of us works in a company that is in the tech and communications space, and one of us works for a company that is resource and product-oriented. One of our clients has a strong focus on domestic work in Canada, and one is a Montreal-based Delaware company with a North American manufacturing base and a global customer network. 

But in terms of our roles as general counsel, what distinguishes us is not as significant as what we have in common — namely, that we have many varied responsibilities that require us to juggle a number of roles and constituencies every day. We solve legal problems, manage risk, coordinate brands, monitor public and governmental affairs, fulfill corporate secretariat roles — you name it, we are responsible for it. 

Today’s general counsel – regardless of the company in which he or she works – is pulled in any number of directions by the sometimes competing demands of management executives, stakeholders, board members, employees, adversaries and competitors.   We have a great deal of work that requires our immediate attention, but at the same time need to focus on long-term strategic needs for our law department and our companies. So, who has our back? Our great department team members, our management, and of course, our personal support network of friends and family outside the office.

Who is missing from that list? While we are both fortunate to work with extremely talented outside counsel, many of whom we cherish for their skills and friendship, there are still not enough firms out there who think of themselves as truly part of our teams and who “have our back” at all times. 

Many Canadian firms do not seem to understand that the general counsel’s agenda and service expectations are changing — far too many of the firms upon which we have traditionally relied are too slow to work with us using new value-based techniques such as innovative pricing, staffing, knowledge, and process-based solutions that our businesses and complex legal problems require. There are some really notable exceptions, but they are exceptions, rather than the rule.

At a recent ACC CLO ThinkTank meeting (hosted by Zyg at Domtar Corporation HQ in Quebec, sponsored by Ogilvy Renault and attended by Martine (Martine is also a member of the ACC Board of Directors), a number of Montreal’s top CLOs met to discuss law firm/client value issues: what’s working and what’s not.  

We were struck by the common experiences of every general counsel in the room. There was a strong sense of disappointment over resistance from many of Canada’s top firms when we asked them for a new approach our legal work and legal spend that will drive efficiency, and not just hours. There was also dissatisfaction with the firms’ lack of focus on process and project management skills. For the most part, we are still not seeing law firms truly align themselves with us in terms of profiting from our outcomes in a manner that is commensurate with the value of the services they provide to us.

Coming out of that ACC CLO ThinkTank, we wanted to pen this blog to help Canadian CLOs and GCs start the conversation between in-house leaders and Canadian law firms. It is important to remember that there are two sides to the story here — we both need to do better at having the “value” conversation. As in-house counsel, we need to be clear in defining what value means to each of us, and to reward firms that provide it; and firms need to improve and adjust, or reinvent their service models to accommodate the “new normal” of efficiencies and work based on results, not hours.

In concert with the ACC Value Challenge initiative, we aim to drive the conversation to get each side, clients and firms in Canada and elsewhere, focused on how we can do better, together. 

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Two ACC leaders were recently honored with top legal industry awards:  ACC’s former board chair, Laura Stein, Senior Vice President and General Counsel, The Clorox Company, is a 2010 recipient of the Margaret Brent Women Lawyers of Achievement Award, established by the ABA to recognize the accomplishments of women lawyers.  In Canada, ACC board member, David Allgood, Executive Vice-President and General Counsel, Royal Bank of Canada, was named the 2010 Canadian General Counsel Lifetime Achievement winner.

Watch ACC President Fred Krebs speak on the qualities that make a good leader in the in-house counsel community and offer congratulations to David Allgood and Laura Stein on their achievements.

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