Page 29 - CCCA 247020 Magazine Spring 2016

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is involvement in shaping Amgen’s future typifes the bACK to the ClAssroom
growing demand for in-house counsel to be fnancially lit- The appetite for knowledge about business concepts is growing.
herate so they can read a balance sheet, ask pertinent ques- In recent years, business schools have introduced graduate
tions of the chief fnancial offcer and, when necessary, raise red level programs for working executives that include courses on
fags. Often, lawyers are not trained in the language of numbers, fnancial literacy. In other cases, business and law schools col-
so learning to interpret them for bottom-line impact is fast be- laborate on joint degrees at the undergraduate and graduate
coming a necessity. levels to equip students in both disciplines. Finally, online pro-
“There is an increasing expectation that lawyers are going to fessional development programs for practicing lawyers are also
have these [business] skills,” says Lennox, who joined Amgen four increasingly including fnancial literacy components.
years ago, eager to contribute more than his legal acumen. “I have “There are a bunch of issues where the lawyer is a critical
always had a bit of this business inclination,” he says. “How can I player, but if they don’t understand why we are doing it and
get in there and be closer to the business and add value?” how we make money on it, then all they can do is quote back
the code and the law,” says Rick Robertson, an Ivey Business
CompetitiVe edge School professor who teaches an executive education course on
fnancial analysis for non-fnancial executives.
That ability to combine legal skills and business smarts carries a With the sharp focus on fnancial literacy, new specialty pro-
premium in today’s corporate environment, with increased legis- grams have emerged specifcally for in-house counsel. In a move
lative and regulatory demands for fscal accountability; a prolifer- that was the frst of its kind, the CCCA and the Rotman School
ation of complex global trade agreements with monetary conse- of Management at the University of Toronto introduced the Busi-
quences for contracts; and unpredictable, potentially costly, hits ness Leadership Program for In-House Counsel in 2014, with in-
to the bottom line from cyber security and other external threats. class and online modules offered over 12-14 months leading to
“The in-house counsel in the senior management team has a designation of Certifed In-House Counsel—Canada (CIC.C).
to be fnancially literate and, beyond that, has to have fnancial
capabilities to be a meaningful member of that senior team,”
says Stephen Rotstein, Vice-President of Policy and Regulatory “i found there was a signifcant
Affairs and General Counsel for the Canadian Financial Plan- language barrier [when i spoke
ning Council. “That is table stakes now.”
Reinforcing his point is the annual “Top 10 Legal Risks for with other business people].”
Business,” published in January by Borden Ladner Gervais. Al- natasha palacio, in-house Counsel,
most all the listings (including climate change, honesty in law Commonwell mutual insurance group
contracts, the Trans-Pacifc Partnership and tax authority scru-
tiny) require some level of fnancial literacy, observes Andrew
Harrison, Managing Partner of BLG’s Toronto offce. In school and private practice, lawyers may learn little about
The topic of climate change, for example, inevitably leads to business concepts, a gap that becomes evident when they join a
questions about pricing carbon emissions, with implications company or non-proft as the legal advisor, according to CCCA
for back-offce expenses and product sales, says Harrison. “Yes, Interim Executive Director Christine Staley. (Previously, as
these are legal questions but they are also very much bottom- Director of Professional Development, she worked with Rot-
line issues with fnancial repercussions.” man on course content and assessment for the certifcate.)
He likens fnancial literacy to the ability to speak a foreign “All of a sudden they [in-house counsel] are immersed in
language when travelling abroad: “You can get by with English, human resources issues, fnancial issues and very strategic busi-
but if you understand the local language, you can get a much ness issues that they would have had no training in,” says Staley.
deeper and more refned understanding of what is really going “You need to understand how to play both roles—business ad-
on. That’s the way I would apply fnancial literacy to almost all visor and legal advisor—at the same time.”
of our business risks. You can go to your business clients with a So far, 64 in-house counsel have graduated from the CIC.C
much more nuanced level of advice.” program, with 27 more expected by April 2016.

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