Page 10 - CCCA 250375 Magazine_Summer 2016

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Perfec t Role
Ca st In t He

By Michael Dempster

jeremy Millard grew up in the theatre, soaking in the energy,
creativity and performances of his parents and grandparents.
It was magical, super cool, says the toronto native. and while

he didn’t follow the family career path, today he’s on a large
stage himself—acting as Uber’s Legal Director for Canada.

ike the entertainment industry, Uber municipal bylaw debates and lawsuits— the pier waving to the ship going away.
has its critics. But the company’s mo- has provided a challenge he calls the best You’ve got companies doing and mak-
lbile app has plenty of fans, with peo- legal job in the country. ing something, and you help them solve
ple in more than 400 cities worldwide us- “It’s certainly different going from a law problems, and then they go off and do
ing the ride-sharing service. frm where you might have a matter you whatever they’re doing. I wanted to be a
“Internally, we know it’s a novel prod- are working on in the press once in a de- part of that creative force.”
uct,” says Millard. “You won’t fnd many cade to where we are in the press several Uber, founded in 2009, presented a fas-
people who aren’t thrilled with the prod- times on a daily basis,” Millard explains. “I cinating model for someone coming from
uct and experience. That’s a great thing think you have to take it in stride. You just private practice, he says. Advising on the
here for staff, or for any company you are have to appreciate the environment you are law, he and his “brilliant team members”
working at.” operating in. In a high-paced environment roll up their sleeves in all stages of devel-
Millard joined Uber in July 2015 as its … you can’t be checking headlines every opment and activity. He also has the ad-
frst lawyer in Canada. His role is to ad- fve minutes. You have to block in time to vantage of consulting with a core group of
vise the San Francisco-based company on do a unit of work and avoid distractions.” lawyers in the San Francisco headquarters
matters here and shape a domestic legal During this year’s CCCA National who have specialization in various areas,
approach. The immediate overall goal, he Conference in Calgary, Millard, a keynote like regulatory law.
says, is to encourage cities and provinces speaker, discussed how moving in-house “I’m also fortunate that, in our Toronto
to enact smart regulations for ride-shar- with Uber was a great ft. He’d been a liti- offce, we are still small enough that I sit in
ing. Regulations that ensure consumer gator for a number of years in Toronto, an open concept offce with a Foosball table.
protection and safety while letting an “in- worked for vehicle manufacturers, done When I was in private practice, once a year
novative new service” grow. some regulatory work and remained a I would walk the shop foor [of a client]
The frst year has been an exhilarating U.S.-licensed attorney [he worked in Bos- and the lessons in that were always valuable.
ride on an incredibly steep learning curve, ton for two years after graduating from And now I’m on the shop foor every day.”
he says. Moving in-house, understand- law school in 2002]. The offce isn’t far from where he was
ing his role and setting a domestic legal “Working in a frm is great, and it’s born, just down the street from the Fi-
direction for Uber—seemingly always in great to serve clients, but I always had a nancial District, where he’s worked most
the headlines, from taxi driver protests to sense that when a matter ended, I was on of his legal career.

10 CCCa MagazIne | SUMMer 2016 été