Lawyer Michael C. Smith says the impact of Bill C-36 will depend on how the government implements it.

Many legal departments will likely face increased litigation and internal restructuring following Parliament’s approval of a new product recall bill last week, say business lawyers.

Purdy Crawford is caught in the crossfire between activist shareholder and Maple Leaf Foods’ management.

One of Canada’s best-known business lawyers, Purdy Crawford, has been caught in the crossfire of a battle between an activist shareholder and the management of Maple Leaf Foods Inc., where he is the lead independent director.

The democratization of knowledge and the commoditization of legal services will bring changes to in-house law departments. Some will see them as disruptive. However, these changes are really opportunities for in-house lawyers to move to a more efficient way of practising, perhaps concentrating on more value-added legal work, as well as collaborating on more important issues affecting their companies. This is an opportunity for in-house lawyers to pivot and transition to a more comprehensive role of strategic advisers.

Cloud computing is trying to make inroads in Canadian companies, but most business executives are still confused by the concept, with privacy and security being the top concerns, according to a study released last week.

David Liss presents a series of art pieces about the richness of the Canadian character to in-house counsel attending the ACC Ontario annual art crawl. photo credit: Andi Balla

With the many long hours they spend working in their offices, lawyers really appreciate good art hanging in the walls, whether they work at a firm or in-house. So it is not surprising that one of the year’s most popular networking events for in-house lawyers in the Greater Toronto Area is the annual art crawl organized by the Association of Corporate Counsel Ontario chapter.

Extending flow-through shares would ‘create a gargantuan opportunity,’ says Rick Sutin.

After years of talking about it, Canada’s biotechnology industry has mounted a serious lobby to extend flow-through shares to the sector.

Ask any corporate counsel about what their first priority is when dealing with their external law firms, and they are likely to say keeping costs down tops the lists.

 

Canadian in-house counsel join the discussion at the largest gathering of in-house lawyers in the world. Organized by the Association of Corporate Counsel in late October, the conference looked at developing trends in the in-house bar, including billing arrangements, social media, ethics, and project management.

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Teri Monti, counsel and director of employee relations at the Royal Bank of Canada, speaks at a session on crisis management at the ACC annual meeting.

There weren’t many places the 2,500 people attending the Association of Corporate Counsel’s annual meeting could go without running into a Canadian lawyer or symbol last week. With a strong presence among speakers, delegates, and sponsors, Canadian legal departments and law firms were set to join the discussion dominated by talk about billing arrangements, social media, ethics, and project management.

 

In a trend-setting decision for patenting business methods in Canada, the Federal Court has ruled Amazon.com Inc. should be able to patent its one-click order process.