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CCCA_V7No1_Q&AHeatherCraford-FIN_CCCA 2/12/13 5:13 PM Page 41 hen Heather Crawford left private practice to become Feature in-house counsel in 1997, she didn’t have a road map. WAnd for a while she felt lost. Soon, however, she found her way and has since thrived at Clairvest, a Toronto-based private equity management firm where she is responsible for general, corpo- rate and public company compliance matters while assisting in all aspects of the investment process. A self-described “mother hen” to young Clairvest employees, Crawford’s nurturing is an extension of her home life — where she and husband Larry Ritchie have five children, four boys and one girl, ages 11 to 19. Raised in Toronto, Crawford earned her BA at Simon Fraser University, an LL.B. from Osgoode Hall Law School and an LL.M. from the University of Cambridge. She practised at Torys LLP for more than six years before joining Clairvest as its first, and to this day, only in-house counsel. Crawford spoke with Michael Dempster about how she success- fully navigated the transition from private practice to in-house counsel while enjoying an active home life. Moving in By Michael Dempster One GC’s advice for managing the transition from private practice to in-house. Why did you make the decision to move in-house? I had three children during those six years at Torys and my husband was a busy securities lawyer. I realized that I either had to hire a nighttime nanny or switch jobs to take a position that would give me more control over my time in the short term. I had children because I wanted children and didn’t want to delegate all child- rearing responsibilities. When I started here I was on reduced hours, but it quickly grew into full time as Clairvest grew. PRINTEMPS 2013 CCCA Canadian Corporate Counsel Association 41