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CCCA62_018-025.qxd:CCCA_V1No2_Recruiting-V1.qxd 09/14/2007 02:32 PM Page 20 Feature “ It’s a pretty rich portfolio of work to do, and one that I think, if you’re in a private firm, you’d ” salivate to get your hands on. Sean Quinn, Vice-President, Law and General Counsel Cameco Corporation, Saskatoon At the same time, the legal workload has piled up. The regula- counsel positions are highly coveted,” says Sameera Sereda, a tory environment is increasingly complex, with more environ- Calgary-based legal recruiter and prairie regional director of The mental regulations, more aggressive enforcement of the Counsel Network’s in-house counsel division. Competition Act, the introduction of the Lobbyist Registration Act, Ten or twenty years ago, the job of corporate counsel was com- and greater demand for corporate accountability. Add a flurry of monly perceived to involve little more than parcelling out work to merger and acquisition activity and more corporate litigation into law firm lawyers.But if an in-house career ever did confer less pres- the mix, and it’s no surprise that corporations are hiring more in- tige than the partnership track, those days are long gone. Just take house lawyers simply to keep up. the example of J-P. Bisnaire, who left a position as one of the top Perhaps most compelling, however, is the fact that in-house M&A lawyers in the country at Davies Ward Phillips &Vineberg counsel invariably have a deeper appreciation of a company’s LLP to become general counsel with Manulife Financial in 2004. day-to-day challenges and opportunities than do their private “He went from the very pinnacle of success in the private prac- practice colleagues, thanks to their intimate knowledge of its tice world to an in-house position in the prime of his life, which inner workings. Instead of listing off the relevant rules, they can would have been unheard of ten years ago,” says ZSA’s Sweeney. provide practical, informed advice that balances legal demands For those following Bisnaire’s lead, the biggest attraction is the with business realities. nature of the work.“There’s lots of good deal flow and interest- Sean Quinn,vice-president,law and general counsel of Cameco ing work,” says Sereda.“Helping to make business decisions and Corporation in Saskatoon, points to the unrivalled expertise his move the business forward is very exciting for lawyers.” in-house team has developed in the uranium industry, especially That’s what lured Scott Kitching from a majorWinnipeg firm when it comes to handling long-term agreements on behalf of the to his current position as executive vice-president and chief legal company’s marketing department.“We couldn’t get as good a job counsel at Ceridian Canada Ltd. in 2003.“I definitely wanted to done by using outside counsel,” he says. branch out, become more involved in the business and play a more integral role,” he says. No hard sell required After nine years in private practice, Kitching was looking for Despite the multitude of job ads,for the most part there’s no short- something more satisfying than providing snippets of advice here age of candidates lining up to fill the positions on offer — and the and there.“Even for long-standing clients, I just felt like I wasn’t queue includes some of the best practitioners in the business. part of the ongoing development of the business,” he says.“They STUART KASDORF “These are lawyers who are bright, they’re talented … general were growing and it was great, and I was getting more and more 20 CCCA Canadian Corporate Counsel Association FALL 2007