About

Editor’s note: This interview was conducted prior to March 2020.

What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years?

At TELUS, I oversee the cross-enterprise legal team. Over the last two years, my M&A team completed an unprecedented number of transactions that are transforming TELUS. In the past year alone, we supported 27 acquisitions including those within our core telecom business and, more notably, in several business areas new to TELUS such as the following:

Home and business security. Key transactions in this area include the Western business of AlarmForce (2018), ADT Canada (2019) and several other security businesses.

The medical clinic business through its acquisition in 2018 of Medisys.

TELUS International, which doubled its size through its acquisition of Competence Call Centres.

The agriculture technology business through several smaller acquisitions.

In addition, our team provided legal support to dozens of portfolio investments made by TELUS Ventures – paving the way to advance innovative solutions that have the potential to drive significant growth, impact and scale in Canada, in alignment to TELUS’ broader mandate.

Last, but certainly not least, the sale of TELUS Garden in Vancouver in 2018 provided the funds needed to support the establishment of the TELUS Friendly Future Foundation. The organisation was able to take C$120m of our profit from the sale and reinvest it in the launch of our new TELUS Friendly Future Foundation, jumpstarting the initiative designed to build brighter futures for kids through technology, health and educational programmes.

My litigation team had a number of significant class action wins, including a win at the Supreme Court of Canada in the Wellman class action.

What techniques do you use to provide commercially-focused advice to your company, and how do you communicate these to more junior lawyers in the team?

I regularly participate in meetings with our executive leadership team and with the business units themselves. These meetings are a great opportunity to learn about the business, and to better understand the context in which our legal support is required. I also avoid limiting my own personal participation at those tables to just offering legal advice. Providing a perspective on the business issues in addition to the legal issues is important. I encourage my leadership team to do the same, so we are better partners to our clients.

If you had to give advice to an aspiring in-house lawyer or general counsel what would it be and why?

Reading newspapers regularly and keeping yourself up to date on all issues helps you stay aware of the context of your work, and how it relates to current affairs. Do not only focus on material that appears to be directly relevant to your areas of expertise, but be open to learning new areas so that you can make lateral moves that broaden your skillset, which will in turn, help make you a well-rounded professional. Build networks internally and externally as your colleagues and friends can become important allies in your day-to-day work and overall career. Be careful about engagement on social media. Finally, and of equal importance is to pay attention to your own mental and physical health. It is important to ensure you are well and healthy, so that you can be a good person to yourself, the ones you care about, and your colleagues.

FOCUS ON: CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSBILITY

Increasingly, companies are recognising the importance of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and each of us has a role to play in making our companies better corporate citizens.

TELUS has been a leader in the area of community engagement and sustainability. We believe that doing well in business and “doing good” in our communities go hand-in-hand. Social capitalism is not supplemental to our strategy, but rather the central thesis of what we do, why we do it and what we stand for as a culture.

Inspired by TELUS’ social purpose, my team and I are active participants in our communities, whether by supporting TELUS’ CSR initiatives, or by directly getting involved in community initiatives. For example, in addition to volunteering through TELUS’ Days of Giving, supporting several community organisations financially, serving as the Executive Sponsor for Connections, TELUS’ resource group committed to advancing gender equality at all levels, I serve on the board of the Vancouver Opera, am part of the executive of Legal Leaders for Diversity and serve on the Greater Toronto Area Community board of the TELUS Friendly Future Foundation. Doing good is an essential part of our work.

Some of TELUS’ CSR initiatives supported by our legal team are:

Bringing primary healthcare and mental health support to patients living on the streets through our Health for Good™ programme. Powered by TELUS Health, our solutions enable an electronic medical record for each patient. The mobile health clinics, of which we now have nine across the country, build a comprehensive health history for future care and improved access to shared information between healthcare professionals.

Committing to following sustainable and responsible business practices and making decisions that balance economic growth with social and environmental benefits. For example, our latest internet data centres (IDCs) are 80% more energy efficient than traditional IDCs. In fact, 50% of our total IDC power requirements come from renewable sources, such as solar and wind. As well, our investments in renewable energy in Alberta now provide 10% of TELUS’ electricity requirements in that province.

Ensuring Canadians are connected to the people, information and opportunities that matter most to them and their families. Our Mobility for Good™ programme provides youth transitioning from foster care with a free smartphone and data plan, so they can stay connected to vital support, including educational and employment resources.

Helping citizens stay safe in our digital world. TELUS Wise empowers youth and adults alike, to stay safe online. It is a free digital literacy educational programme that offers workshops and provides online tools to help users protect their online security, privacy and reputation, rise above cyberbullying, and use technology responsibly.

Any organisation that has a stake in their communities should instill CSR, company-wide, down to our individual contributions. Our society will see positive change if leaders advocate for team members to contribute to that change. The legal services team at TELUS is an integral part of TELUS’ commitment to “give where we live”.