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CCCA_V7No2_Dept-Horizons-FIN_CCCA_V6No4 13-05-17 3:27 PM Page 10 Horizons Ahead of the curve CBA futures initiative aimed at helping lawyers adapt to change. By Kim Covert especially amongst law- Whack-a-Mole. yers, is about how things The economic slowdown of 2008 and aren’t what they used to its aftermath is certainly a factor, as is be — and it’s worse,” says globalization; an organization that con- Gary Luftspring, a partner ducts any amount of business abroad con- at Ricketts Harris LLP in fronts an increasingly complex regulatory Toronto who also sits on environment, and expects its in-house the steering committee. counsel to have the answers regardless of “There’s lots being writ- the jurisdiction. ten (by corporate counsel “So you’re having to become quite adept in the U.S. and Britain) at finding resources elsewhere who can about what they’re doing, help you fill in those blanks,” says Headon, new value propositions,the who is also vice-president of the CBA. billable hour and alterna- The effects of relentlessly evolving tive fee arrangements… technology are as varied and numerous as what you get out of all of the holes on the whack-a-mole board. that is things are different While technology hasn’t so far changed t’s the economy. It’s the technology. than they were even five years ago and if the work that lawyers do, it has certainly IIt’s the lawyer-client dynamic. It’s you look through your crystal ball they’re had an impact on the way the work is the regulatory environment. probably going to be very different in five done. More importantly, it has shifted It’s the biggest thing to hit the legal years to come.” client expectations. world since the Magna Carta. Twenty years ago an organization “You can’t be practising and not have Well, maybe not that big. But it’s obvi- might have one in-house lawyer who felt that… that technology, the internet, ous that something’s going on. managed relationships with external firms has made information to clients more “I think you’d have to be an ostrich without having to field tough questions available and lawyers are not any longer with a pretty long neck at this juncture about the budget, says Fred Headon, in- the gatekeeper for a lot of that informa- not to understand that we’re in the vortex house counsel at Air Canada and chair of tion,” says Luftspring. “And the power of some pretty significant change,” says the steering committee. dynamic has changed. I think it’s very Malcolm Heins, principal at Counsel “I don’t want to say my predecessors had much more a buyer’s market whereas for Public Affairs in Toronto. it any easier… but I think with new tools many years it was a seller’s market.” Heins is a member of the steering com- being available to measure what the legal The bottom line is… the bottom line. mittee overseeing Leading Change: The department is producing, and with more For in-house counsel,who are both practi- Canadian Legal Futures Initiative — a awareness of the options that we face in tioners and consumers of legal services, Canadian Bar Association project which is terms of sourcing legal services,other peo- “change”is nearly synonymous with“cost.” looking at where the profession is today ple in the organization are starting to ask a Clients want legal advice on-budget and what it will need to do to remain rel- lot of questions,” he said in an interview. and on time.They also want a predictable ISTOCKPHOTO.COM evant into the next decade. Pinning down a simple cause for the outcome, and will push external firms to “Too much of the dialogue now, changes in the legal system is akin to playing check all those boxes, says Headon. 10 CCCA Canadian Corporate Counsel Association SUMMER 2013