Page 14 - CCCA Magazine Summer 2014

{ ProFile } “ Junior lawyers don’t necessarily get to learn a we’re not in corporate off ce; we are out kind of detailed passion for a single topic ” lot about a client’s business… I wanted to have more of a connection to where I was working. “My role is really interesting. The idea laboration. She completed her masters behind the compliance off cers is that but couldn’t see herself sustaining any in the business.” for months on end. The off cers’ mandate is to take corpo- “My dad convinced me to give law rate compliance’s programs, roll them out school a shot. He was prescient, where he and also “operationalize” them. The idea is said [with law] you can do something dif- to ensure a continuous feedback loop where ferent every f ve years.” the businesses approach her and explain He also awakened her social conscious- how a particular initiative needs modif ca- ness. She would never tell another hurtful tion to ensure successful implementation. joke. and compliance discipline. Led by the “I take that feedback and either go ahead “There are certain ages in your life chief compliance off cer, the department and agree to it on my own, or depending on when you are more impressionable than reports directly to CEO Robert Card, and what it is, I might need to go back to cor- other ages. And [his reaction] always in some cases, to the board. porate compliance (who owns the actual stayed with me.” “I’m sincerely happy to be a part of an program) and provide feedback,” Sandhu Last July, Sandhu agreed to chair CCCA’s effort and a commitment that will help a explains. “I kind of joke that I make myself national diversity committee. The goal is to pre-eminent Canadian brand, SNC-Lava- unpopular with corporate compliance be- promote the rights of CCCA members who lin, continue to grow and be relevant, and cause I come back to them and say, ‘we have come from diverse backgrounds and create continue to do great things around the to look at modifying X, Y or Z’… because an understanding of diversity issues within world,” Sandhu says. SNC has many different businesses and and beyond the profession. Since graduating from the faculty of business lines, so you can’t necessarily have Issues include how people from certain law at McGill University in 1998, Sandhu a one-size-f ts-all approach.” backgrounds face “disproportionately” has enjoyed a variety of work. After arti- Her days f y by. Employees need busi- high odds in gaining articling positions; cling with a large Bay Street law f rm, she ness questions addressed quickly, creating how people [women] aren’t proportion- spent two years as an associate—“a great a constant tension between being respon- ally represented in senior ranks; and how, education”—at Minden Gross LLP. sive to people while carving out time to do in subtle ways, members may not be in- She moved in-house to Atomic Energy careful planning work. cluded in certain activities like quasi-so- of Canada Limited [AECL] in 2002 be- This February, she began travelling cial or business events where mentoring cause she wanted to feel more passionate across Canada and the U.S. to meet se- and networking happens. about what she was doing. Junior lawyers nior leaders in the divisions she’s respon- While career and CCCA work keeps don’t necessarily get to learn a lot about a sible for helping. The company initiated her busy (there’s limited time for exer- client’s business, she says. in-person compliance training, and Sand- cise or socializing with friends), Sandhu “I wanted to have more of a connection hu will sometimes accompany the trainer makes family time a priority in their to where I was working. The job at AECL to provide her perspective as a compliance Oakville, Ont., home. presented this exciting intersection of pol- off cer. Last year, she and her oldest daughter, icy, politics, law, business, technology and “There’s a huge uptick in work after these Asha, started gardening, and grew pump- international focus. It was a really interest- sessions. People make a connection. I really kins and honeydew melons. This past ing opportunity for a young lawyer.” enjoy that, the people part of it the most.” winter, they grew indoor vegetables from At AECL she would hold a number The need for teamwork played a part seed and when the time’s right, they’ll of senior legal positions until 2011. That in Sandhu becoming a lawyer. During her transplant the tiny shoots to the garden. year, SNC-Lavalin bought AECL’s com- university days, her f rst love was history (it Sandhu knows how the childhood mercial reactor division and created Can- still is), and she imagined herself as a pro- years can be an impressionable time, and du Energy Inc. Sandhu moved to Candu fessor researching and writing about the perhaps Asha will sow an interest that as senior legal counsel. Last fall, when then-burgeoning area of cultural studies. lasts a lifetime. ❚ an incumbent left SNC-Lavalin, Sandhu During the f rst two months of her moved to the parent company where she’s master’s thesis at Queen’s University she responsible for seven divisions, including made a discovery: Academic research is Michael Dempster is a freelance writer based in Candu, within the power group. independent, isolated work with little col- Calgary. 14 CCCa Magazine | suMMer 2014 été