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CCCA_V4No4_Global-FIN.qxd:CCCA_V1No1_DriversSeat-FIN.qxd 10/27/10 3:06 PM Page 21 Canada B Byy BBeevv CClliinnee Feature goes global Call it a brain distribution. To an unprecedented degree, Canadian corporate counsel are going global and taking on some of the most high-ranking GC positions worldwide. What drew these expatriates to take the international route, and what do they think of the overseas life? T he national bookstore chain slogan states:“The world needs more Canada.”A growing num- ber of Canadian in-house counsel are taking that message to heart. In Geneva, Taipei and Johannesburg, three Canadians have risen to the heights of corporate law departments internation- ally. Here are the stories of how they got there and how they advise fellow Canadians who might wish to follow in their footsteps. eneva-based Paul Bourassa,senior vice-president legal,regulatory affairs & compliance,JT International, GS.A., never set out to look for an in-house position. During his articles and six years of private practice at Mackenzie Gervais in Montreal (since merged with other firms to become Borden Ladner Gervais LLP), Bourassa did a lot of work for RJR-Macdonald, one of the firm’s most important clients. “I very much enjoyed the diversity of the work; the mix of corporate, commercial, regulatory and litiga- tion,” recalls Bourassa, 49, citing one of the reasons that lawyers often choose to go in-house.“I also liked the people who worked at RJR-Macdonald, and the chance to travel really appealed to me.” So in 1993,Bourassa and his wife,also a lawyer,along with their two-year old son (they now have two chil- dren), moved to Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where Bourassa took up his position as assistant general counsel of RJ Reynolds International for the Americas region. “Looking back, this was such a natural move for me that it seems strange that I didn’t go out and actively look for an in-house position — no CVs sent out, no job applications, no headhunters, no cold calls,” he says. Bourassa had been with RJ Reynolds for slightly more than two years, travelling extensively across North America and through Latin America, when word came that the company had decided to combine its U.S.- based global headquarters with its European operations based in Geneva, Switzerland. SEAN MACLEOD tional role as head of legal for the company’s European operations.Then in 2004, he was appointed head of So,along with dozens of co-workers,Bourassa and his family moved to Europe,where he took on the addi- legal for JT International, a company with more than 25,000 employees, products sold in over 150 countries HIVER 2010 CCCA Canadian Corporate Counsel Association 21