Page 38 - CCCA61_2008

CCCA61_048,049.qxd:CCCA_V1No1_Profile-FIN.qxd 02/07/2008 06:24 PM Page 48 Profile Karen Louie Karen Louie Thechallenge of turning the legal department into a “profit centre” keeps Karen Louieengaged in the everydayactivities of her work. hen Karen Louie tells people she works for new challenges and international reach.” WHarlequin, they tend to ask what she’s written. Louie For those still stuck in the stereotype of pulp paperback laughs.“I tell them,‘Probably nothing you’ve ever read.’” bodice-rippers,Louie points to Harlequin’s constant evolution: Nothing you’ve ever read, that is, unless you happen to its expansion into non-fiction, new imprints, innovative part- be one of the publisher’s 1,300-plus authors around the nerships (for example, with a line of NASCAR-themed globe, or one of their agents, or a film studio executive or books), and its aggressive development in the digital space — book club looking to option one of the approximately 1,100 audio, e-books, push-to-mobile. As she’s fond of saying, “It’s titles Harlequin publishes each year — in 26 languages — not my mother’s Harlequin.” under its dozen or so imprints.Then,you might be quite famil- Aside from a six-month stint as a litigator in the mid-1980s, iar with Karen Louie’s work. Louie — who holds a JD from the University of Toronto and As vice-president, general counsel and secretary at Toronto- an LLM in International Business Law from Osgoode Hall based Harlequin Enterprises Limited,Louie heads a legal team of Law School — has always worked as corporate counsel. eight that — to name a “Frankly,I found it too few of its functions — One of the nicest things that one of my in-house clients two-dimensional,” she around the world, man-“ business sense, but a talented business-person who also practice. She started a directly supports the says of her litigation ever said to me was that I’m not a lawyer with a great romance publisher’s corporate/commercial English-language offices happens to have all the advantages of being a lawyer. practice in 1987, with ages an international Data General (Canada) ” trademarks portfolio that Inc.as her primary client. includes more than 3,000 registrations, handles author contracts, Then Inglis placed an ad for corporate secretary. She applied, and negotiates licensing agreements. and became the company’s first lawyer in 1988. “Our day is quite diverse,”says Louie.“Right now,I’m doing At Inglis (which was acquired by Whirlpool in a going- a deal over in the United Kingdom.I could be developing new private transaction, managed for her company by Louie in precedents for an imprint we’re going to launch, negotiating 1990), she didn’t so much climb the corporate counsel ladder with an agent or with a major international film studio on a as create it,starting out as legal counsel,adding“corporate sec- dramatic rights option, then switching to providing support to retary” to her title, and becoming senior legal counsel by the the Torstar tax group [of which the company is a subsidiary]. time she left in 1993. And then I could be working on some corporate/commercial In some ways, her career path at Inglis/Whirlpool mirrors matters in India, where we’re setting up a business. So it can be the growing understanding and acceptance of in-house cor- quite a crazy kind of day, but it’s fun.” porate counsel as integral to business. As she recalls, “Inglis The craziness — and the fun — are part of what attracted wasn’t looking to recruit a lawyer necessarily,” she says. “But Louie, a native of Vancouver, to Harlequin in 2005.“It had a then they thought it through and realized I might be handy to great reputation as an employer, which is well earned. It’s a have around.And then, of course, I started proving that I was Canadian company with global business interests. And it’s a handy to have around.” very innovative company that brought with it the promise of Louie continued on her career path as in-house counsel, 48 CCCA Canadian Corporate Counsel Association SPRING 2008