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dent. “At frst I wasn’t interested because I use my legal knowledge,” she remarks,
my career was in law, not higher educa- acknowledging that the CIC.C designa-
tion management. But the more I thought tion gave her the business leadership and
about it, the more I was curious about fnancial knowledge to round out her skill
whether I could develop any management set and deal knowledgeably with the pro-
skills. As a lawyer, you manage your own fessional accountants around her.
fles but it is different than managing a Of course, given her many responsi-
team, motivating employees.” bilities and small staff, she relies on outside
So she took the VP job on the condi- counsel a lot. Having sat on both sides of
tion that General Counsel was added to the table, she fnds the relationship much
her title as well—“to keep up my legal more collaborative and she enjoys being
skills.” Like many organizations, especially the client. She tries not to second guess de-
smaller ones, the College had not realized cisions, trusting in the process instead: “If
the potential benefts of having its own everyone plays their own role and does it
in-house counsel, she explains. “I was well, everything is really going to work out.”
able to add a lot of value, starting with a
thorough legal audit.” Her work at Regent
College also earned her a Lexpert Zenith Full Circle
Award in 2015, recognizing her as a top “One thing that has been really, really
Canadian lawyer in not-for-proft work. gratifying as I come up onto 30 years of
practice is how really different experienc-
The Next Big Move es have come together,” Patti says, explain-
ing how litigation cases from decades ago
The Path to In-House Ten years later, Patti was looking for a are helping to inform her decisions now.
change again. “The older I get, the more I take pleasure
Patti is one of the many East Coasters who “I wasn’t sure what I was going to do, in all the various strands of life experienc-
have returned home. Born and raised in so I took the CIC.C [Certifed In-House es weaving together in unexpected ways.”
Nova Scotia, after six years in private prac- Counsel – Canada] designation and an Indeed, her “accidental” career path, as
tice in Halifax, she went west, initially to do HR designation [Certifed Human Re- she calls it, is nothing of the sort. She is
graduate work in applied ethics and theol- sources Professional]. I had been doing a a smart, driven, capable lawyer constantly
ogy at Regent College in Vancouver and mix of management and law, and I wasn’t asking herself: “What circumstances allow
later settling into private practice there. sure whether I wanted to move back to- me to thrive? What environment brings
“When I came out of law school [in ward law in an in-house leadership role or out the best in me? Where can I be happy
1989], there was essentially one career pull on the human resources thread and and add value?”
path if you had a decent GPA,” she re-
calls. “It was an unspoken tradition that “Just on cusp of partnership, i left the law frm. i could
you went to Bay Street to be successful.”
So she became a successful litigator at a see the next 40 years but it just wasn’t my dream.”
prestigious frm. However, “just on cusp
of partnership, I left the law frm. I could
see the next 40 years but it just wasn’t my fnd a more senior management position.” More importantly, she has the courage
dream.” As often as not, she had wondered Then she got a call from a recruiter to pursue the answers.
what it would be like to be the client in a looking to hire the CPA Nova Scotia She is also big on giving back to the
matter rather than the counsel. CEO. A bit ironic as she comes from a in-house community, whether that
In 2001, she moved in-house—a career family of accountants—“I chose law to means sharing her knowledge through
that has really allowed her to thrive. get away from it!” the CCCA’s Mentoring Program, helping
Her frst in-house position was Coming home to Halifax has been a peers work through problems on an ad
Senior Litigation Counsel at Royal & good transition. It brings her and her hoc basis, or taking on formal and infor-
SunAlliance, a large international insur- 13-year-old daughter closer to their ex- mal speaking engagements.
ance company. While it was an excellent tended family, and gives her more time “As our roles evolve, each of us has to
learning experience, she realized the ft was to pursue some of her hobbies, such as bring people along,” she says. “The world
not quite right—she would feel more at golfng (“it’s better out east!”) and kaya- is a big place. There is room for every
home in a smaller environment where one king (her cottage on the coast is only an temperament, every set of skills, every
person could make a bigger difference. hour’s drive away). dream, everyone.” ❚
At this same time of transition, she had She took the CEO position, with the
joined the Board of Governors of Regent understanding that she would also be
College. In 2004, the President asked her CLO to satisfy her passion for law. “I have Lynne Yryku is the Executive Editor of CCCA
if she was interested in being Vice Presi- been pleasantly surprised how commonly Magazine.

14 CCCA MAgAzINE | FALL 2017 AutOMNE