Her 13-member litigation and employment department is responsible for both Canada and the US
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 having one client,” she says.
After articling with Alberta’s Court of Queen’s (now King’s) Bench and getting her call in 2008, Lee joined McCarthy Tétrault’s LLP’s litigation team in Calgary.
In 2011, an employment law opportunity emerged in TC Energy Corporation’s legal department, and she accepted a position supporting the human resources department. Lee remained there for a year, at which point she transferred to the litigation team, becoming the third lawyer in the group.
As the team grew, Lee moved steadily up the ladder until TC appointed her as acting manager of the department. She assumed her current title in August 2022.
By that time, the team had grown to 13 members, part of a contingent of 100 professionals in Calgary, Houston, Charleston and Mexico City who reported directly or indirectly to TC’s general counsel. Half are in Calgary, with the balance split fairly evenly between the US and Mexico offices.
“The litigation team is part of the corporate legal team, which services all our business units and constitutes a little more than half of the department,” Lee says. “The rest of the department is embedded in the individual business units.”
TC, which employs 7,300 people, is perhaps best known as a pipeline company. But it’s much more than that: a leader in developing and operating energy infrastructure, TC also owns or has interests in seven power generation facilities in Canada with a combined capacity of some 4,200 megawatts, enough to power more than four million homes.
Lee reports to Christine Johnston, TC’s VP law and company secretary, who in turn is one of four VPs reporting to GC and executive VP Patrick Keys.
Lee’s responsibilities embrace Canada and the US. She says her team has no difficulty adapting to the cultural differences.
“Cultural differences also exist among the bars of our provinces. The trick is to learn and appreciate what the differences are when you’re in another jurisdiction.”
Lee has nine direct reports among her team of twelve, including an employment law manager responsible for two lawyers and a paralegal.
“My litigation team is spread out in Calgary, Houston and Charleston,” Lee says. “Calgary has three litigation lawyers including myself and an ediscovery paralegal, and there are two litigation lawyers, an ediscovery paralegal and a traditional paralegal in the US.”
The litigation team works proactively on both claims avoidance and claims management.
“In Canada, we appear as counsel of record in some cases,” Lee says. “The choice as to whether we or external counsel do so is a case-by-case determination that depends largely on the internal capacity we have.”
When they’re not appearing as counsel, Lee’s team is equipped to support the entire litigation cycle.
“We do e-discovery, document collection and review, and manage third party reviewers,” Lee says. “We also manage legal holds, budgets and outside counsel.”
Many of the TC litigation team are long-tenured and have developed specific subject matter expertise as well as good internal and external relationships.
“That knowhow and the access to in-house litigators brings benefits to the business side that may not be available in other companies,” Lee says.
The presence of a legal operations unit that supports the team’s technology also helps.
“You do try to educate yourself by reading the material that comes around, and by watching Sedona and other groups, but you can also be certain that the software folks will let you know what’s out there.”
Lee’s leadership and management style emphasizes empowerment.
“I encourage my team to make decisions and recommendations on their own, but always in the context of an open-door policy that has people questioning and talking through issues and strategy. I do believe that individuals are responsible for their own career development, but I try to set them up for success and I’m always on the lookout for opportunities to do so.”
Things went smoothly even during the pandemic.
“We’re a relatively small team, which allowed us to transition to working from home quickly and effectively without losing touch with each other,” Lee says. “Like everyone else, we did spend the first few weeks wondering what was going on, but were able to pick up the ball and keep running.”
The working environment is now a hybrid one.
“Leadership has decided on fixed days in the office three times weekly and remote work on the other two days, and that’s one of the pandemic’s great legacies,” Lee says. “I have a young family, and like others in my position, prefer the hybrid model because of the flexibility it adds to managing the demands of our personal and professional lives.”
Lee is particularly proud of the comprehensive litigation profile report she developed recently.
“The report gives a fuller picture of the trends, tracks and reports on litigation consistently across the organization, and presents the information in a clear and digestible format.”
Her career highlight, Lee claims, is achieving her current role.
“As senior counsel on the team, I had individual files, but in this job I get the big picture view of the litigation across the jurisdictions we support. It’s a challenge, but I enjoy the people, enjoy the leadership position and enjoy working with the team as a whole.”
