About

Highly experienced in transactional law, Eric Adelson first became general counsel at the age of just 36, following his involvement in many unique, innovative products. Earlier in his career, while working at McKenzie Corporation in Toronto, he was one of the people responsible for the creation of the first synthetic bond fund. In his present role as head of legal at Invesco Canada, Adelson recently finished work on an entirely new trading platform for mutual funds. Adelson is also known for his impact on regulatory reform: sitting on a plethora of industry committees, he navigates Invesco Canada through ever changing regulatory landscape. From a practical point of view Adelson is responsible for the internalisation of a lot of the work that was previously outsourced to law firms and has specialised his lawyers in necessary fields. ‘As a result, people get a better sense of who they get in touch with for specific questions and also so that these people could answer these questions better,’ Adelson clarifies. Reporting directly to the CEO of the parent company Invesco Ltd., he sits on the executive committee and participates in all strategic discussions of the Canadian subsidiary. More recently his legal team has been able to contribute more actively to the company’s strategic direction by trying to do more work that comes out of the ‘back office’.