10 LEXPERT MAGAZINE
|
MAY 2019
T
ake Telus Corp., which has a law department of about 50 people.
e company has several different divisions As well as phone and
internet, it has a major health-IT unit, a venture-capital arm, and an
international business-process outsourcing business. Each division has its
own leadership team — and each leadership team has its own member of
the legal department.
"ey're welcome to weigh in on anything," Andrea Wood, Chief Le-
gal & Governance Officer, says from Vancouver. "ey're there for their
legal expertise but the expectation is that they're also there because they're
thoughtful leaders within Telus.
"At that level they come with specific skills but they're also expected to
know enough about the businesses they support that they can offer busi-
ness-savvy legal advice, and legal-savvy business advice. So they are abso-
lutely welcome to weigh in on any significant business issues."
Junior members of the department don't face the same expectation.
"What's expected of them is that they become expert at navigating the le-
gal risks. But as people become more senior in the organization, there's no
question they're expected to think more broadly about risk and how to
navigate those risks that go beyond legal."
Wood, who sits on the executive leadership team alongside the chief ex-
ecutive officer and chief financial officer and others, has discovered business
risk can come in unexpected forms. She places the failure of a company to
In-house counsel are internal strategic partners in the C-suite BY SANDRA RUBIN
How
Much
Risk?
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY
JOHN
HRYNIUK
