Rescue workers carry the coffin of one of the hostages killed during the hostage crisis at a gas plant in Algeria in January. Photo: Ramzi Boudina/Reuters

Canadian companies with workers employed in potentially volatile locations abroad may want to review their occupational health and safety policies and assess potential risks following the recent hostage taking at a natural gas plant in Algeria.

Information governance requires legal working with others in the business, such as the IT department. Image: Shutterstock

How prepared is your company if you were hit with an e-discovery request tomorrow?

It is not surprising that lawyers like to benchmark. After all, we frequently rely on precedent when we make decisions. Of course, at its simplest, precedent (like benchmarking) merely compares what someone did previously to help decide what we do today. Many law departments use this technique to see how they stand relative to their peers and recognized leaders in key areas. The challenge is to identify a meaningful standard and actually take action when or if you come up short in the comparison.

Graham Gow calls proposals from the Canadian Securities Administrators ‘a move in the right direction.’

Canadian regulators are proposing changes to the way companies can manage hostile bidders in an attempt to give some power back to target boards.

While there is still new money outside Canada for select deals, Toronto has ‘gone into shell shock,’ says Jim Kofman. Photo: Shutterstock

Limited access to equity financing, a drop in metals prices, and general malaise about the economy has made it a difficult few years for junior mining companies. The result is reduced merger and acquisition activity in the sector in Canada.

There are two areas in which organizations hiring lawyers need help: assessing the legal skills of applicants for legal roles and evaluating the performance of the lawyer as a legal adviser.

Some say there are already measures that address the privacy breach proposals in the private member's bill.

A private member’s bill introduced to address data breaches could be more problematic than necessary, especially as most companies that experience data loss already self-report to the privacy commissioner.

In the sixth and final video from the Canadian Lawyer InHouse View 2013 series, sponsored by Blake Cassels & Graydon LLP, Jane Fedoretz, vice president and general counsel with CEDA International Corp. talks about the importance of implementing an anti-corruption compliance program and the company's plans for expansion.

In the fifth of six videos from the Canadian Lawyer InHouse View 2013 series, sponsored by Blake Cassels & Graydon LLP, Anna Fung, vice president, legal and general counsel with TimberWest Forest Corp. talks about the company's plans to expand outside of Canada and why she doesn't focus on discounts and alternative fee arrangements when it comes to using external law firms.

Each time a corporate scandal hits an organization like a tsunami, think about what the in-house lawyers were doing before, when it hit, and after.