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CCCA_V6No2_Profiles-FIN_CCCA_V1No1_Profile-FIN.qxd 5/23/12 11:53 PM Page 23 By Michael Dempster Profile Harding,who immersed herself in capital markets work: mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance and commercial law. Part of her portfolio included han- dling CanadianWestern Bank’s financing and acquisitions.The bank was growing and,in 2004,Harding was asked whether she was interested in becoming its first- ever in-house counsel. Harding was intrigued but said she only knew capital markets and nothing about the Bank Act or the industry. Instead, she helped write a job description and then reiterated that, in her professional opin- ion, there must be better candidates. Bank leadership disagreed. She could learn the Bank Act, they said, and most importantly, they knew her personality. “Their position was — and which I have since fully adopted myself — is that you hire people who are the right fit culturally,” Harding explains.“Then you can train them in areas of law. “What you cannot change is a person’s energy level, their enthusiasm, their per- sonality, their attitude. If you hire the MARNIE BURKHART, JAZHART STUDIO under a year in any area they need to be.” right person, they can get up to speed in The bank’s reasoning was persuasive and Harding accepted.Today,almost eight years later, the Queen’s Counsel (2006) thrives on the legal challenges and under- standing the business of the largest ÉTÉ 2012 CCCA Canadian Corporate Counsel Association 23