Session1
Leadership Development and Excellence
Judy G. Naiberg, VP, Legal & Business Affairs, Sony Music Entertainment Canada Inc.
9:00-9:45
Panel: Succeeding in Leadership Roles
Dorothy A. Quann, VP, General Counsel & Secretary, Xerox Canada Ltd.
Judy G. Naiberg, VP, Legal & Business Affairs, Sony Music Entertainment Canada Inc.
Nora F. Osbaldeston, Partner, National Chair of the Financial Services Group, Miller Thomson LLP
Kelly Friedman, Partner, Davis LLP
Succeeding in Leadership Roles
Regardless of the barriers that persist, talented women are succeeding and taking their place in leadership roles in the legal world. In order to break into the inner circles of power and influence, women need to understand what leadership means and how to operate effectively in within their environment. This panel of successful women lawyers will explore what aspiring female leaders need to do to succeed in leadership roles.
Bringing your personal strengths, vision and voice to leadership
Establishing your personal brand
Obtaining recognition
Identifying and overcoming obstacles to leadership positions
Role of the leader in setting direction, building consensus & getting things done
Leadership imperative in today’s law firm
Developing your abilities to influence
Fostering the leadership qualities that women possess
The reluctant leader: how taking on a leadership role can enhance your own career satisfaction
Bringing your personal strengths, vision and voice to leadership
Establishing your personal brand
Obtaining recognition
Identifying and overcoming obstacles to leadership positions
Role of the leader in setting direction, building consensus & getting things done
Leadership imperative in today’s law firm
Developing your abilities to influence
Fostering the leadership qualities that women possess
The reluctant leader: how taking on a leadership role can enhance your own career satisfaction
9:45- 10:30
Maximizing Opportunities for Career Change
Andrea Wood, Senior Vice President, Legal Services, TELUS
Maximizing Opportunities for Career Change
Faced with greater opportunities than yesteryear, today’s women leaders must be adaptable and change-oriented. It becomes critical to maximize opportunities in your career to broaden experience, deepen networks, demonstrate your competence and establish yourself as a leader. In this presentation, Andrea Wood will share lessons she has learned along the way in her career journey.
The importance of having a career plan and being firm but flexible in its attainment
Being open to new opportunities
“Learning the ropes” quickly in the new position
Projecting an aura of competence and confidence
Being mindful of lessons learned from past experience and applying it in the new position
Dealing with the “nay-sayers” and those who appear to be working against you
Being adaptable and emotionally intelligent
The importance of having a career plan and being firm but flexible in its attainment
Being open to new opportunities
“Learning the ropes” quickly in the new position
Projecting an aura of competence and confidence
Being mindful of lessons learned from past experience and applying it in the new position
Dealing with the “nay-sayers” and those who appear to be working against you
Being adaptable and emotionally intelligent
10:30-11:00 NETWORKING BREAK
11:00- 11:45
Nurturing Leadership Skills in Female Lawyers
Mary Martin, Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, Metrolinx
Nurturing women leaders is particularly challenging in the still male-dominated legal profession. Work-life balance issues, effective training initiatives and development paths that make sense for women lawyers are some of the key roadblocks to be overcome. This discussion details effective strategies for fostering women leaders within the law department.
Designing leadership development programs uniquely geared to women
Overcoming an old-school culture, despite having progressive policies
Ensuring women are co-creators of the department’s leadership development strategy
Developing effective mentoring programs
Leadership development approaches that take into account work-life balance issues
11:45- 12:30
Achieving Success in the In-House Setting
Corinne Pruzanski, General Counsel & Corporate Secretary, Canadian Apartment Properties Real Estate Investment Trust
While corporate law departments may arguably offer more flexibility than a large law firm, women in-house counsel face the similar pressures that impinge upon work/life balance as well as key challenges unique to the in-house setting. This session explores key issues affecting women’s potential for advancement in corporate legal departments.
Identifying the path to the top
Securing mentoring and professional development opportunities
Achieving work/life balance in a corporate setting
Strategies to empower women lawyers to steer their in-house careers towards their own idea of success
Best practices for advancing and retaining talented women lawyers
How successful general counsel manage C-suite and board expectations
Confronting a multilayered glass ceiling
Defining success in an in-house context
Develop internal and external networks
Distinctions between experiences in law firms and in corporate law departments
Session2
Women at Their Best
Colleen Spring Zimmerman, Partner and Co-Chair of the Business Development Committee, Fogler Rubinoff LLP
1:00-1:45
Senior Partner Buy in for Women Initiatives: Demonstrating the Business Imperative
Lisa A. Borsook, Executive Partner, Chairperson of the Commercial Leasing Practice Group, WeirFoulds LLP
For initiatives promoting women to be successful, they must have the support and commitment of executive management who have the power to influence change across the organization. This session will discuss strategies for gaining executive commitment to leadership diversity and ensuring that the strategic importance of women’s initiatives is understood and communicated across the firm. Finally, it will explore the relationship between women’s initiatives and the bottom line of a law firm.
The business of practicing law: understanding how the firm works and its strategy
The business imperative for gender diversity
Advancing women to senior leadership positions in law firms: the challenges and solutions
Supporting business development for women
The changing landscape of the legal services market
1:45-2:15
Achieving Work-Life Balance: the Unique Challenges Faced by Women
Sharon C. Vogel, Partner, Borden Ladner Gervais LLP
Achieving Work-Life Balance: the Unique Challenges Faced by Women
Personal time management skills and practice management skills are critical in reaching your full potential both at work and at home. This presentation will explore strategies for achieving a better work-life balance as well as various programs that can be adopted in law firms/departments that support women in achieving a work life balance.
Unique challenges women face reconciling their work and personal lives
Creating a work-life strategy and action plan
Clarifying priorities: individual challenges and degree of importance
Practical tips and advice for achieving better work-life balance, health and well-being
Developing “off-ramps” and “on-ramps“ that enable lawyers to leave practice for a period of time
Designing flexible work arrangements to help lawyers meet personal needs
Unique challenges women face reconciling their work and personal lives
Creating a work-life strategy and action plan
Clarifying priorities: individual challenges and degree of importance
Practical tips and advice for achieving better work-life balance, health and well-being
Developing “off-ramps” and “on-ramps“ that enable lawyers to leave practice for a period of time
Designing flexible work arrangements to help lawyers meet personal needs
3:00-3:30 NETWORKING BREAK
2:45-3:15
Providing Leadership Development for Female Lawyers
Elena V. Reshetnikova, Legal Counsel, Accenture Inc.
With women still underrepresented in senior partner ranks, firms should seek out and groom women for leadership opportunities. Whether it is communicating, negotiating, networking, managing your career path or achieving work-life balance, there are core competencies you must master in order to lead successful organizations while accelerating your own professional growth. This session will look at best practices for providing leadership development for female lawyers.
Critical skills needed for women to successfully navigate and "take ownership" of their careers
Elements of effective leadership training initiatives
Providing opportunities for chairing practice groups, departments or committees
Developing transparent strategies for equitable succession planning
Leadership-focused mentoring and coaching programs
Succession planning and client transition
3:30-4:15
Career Planning: Positioning Yourself for Long-Term Success
Colleen Spring Zimmerman, Partner and Co-Chair of the Business Development Committee, Fogler Rubinoff LLP
Career Planning: Positioning Yourself for Long-Term Success
Women lawyers recognize the need to be adaptable in the face of change, finding a way or blazing a new path to make the most of opportunities. Career progression is a voyage of discovery, and this presentation will share experiences and insights into navigating the twists and turns of a career, providing strategic advice and concrete ideas about positioning yourself for long-term success.
Building relationships: deepening your networks and support system
Cultivating a mentor/supporter/advisor
Seeking challenges, taking risks and pursuing goals
Continuous development
Enhancing your leadership effectiveness
Keys to successfully advancing through various stages of your career
Building relationships: deepening your networks and support system
Cultivating a mentor/supporter/advisor
Seeking challenges, taking risks and pursuing goals
Continuous development
Enhancing your leadership effectiveness
Keys to successfully advancing through various stages of your career
4:15-5:00
Mapping Out Your Success: Taking the Next Step in Your Career
Julie Ruben Rodney, Partner and Founder, MaxPeoplePerform
Miriam Anbar, Lawyer, Rodney Employment Law
Mapping Out Your Success: Taking the Next Step in Your Career
In this interactive session participants will reflect on what they have achieved so far on the path to leadership and commit to taking the next step forward. Facilitated by a leadership facilitator and an employment lawyer, participants will capture lessons learned and develop a preliminary action plan to help them achieve their goals. Through this session, participants will learn about:
Identifying core leadership behaviours to help drive career growth
Key tips for leveraging resources and network to attain career objectives
Recognizing the shortcuts and find out where the roadblocks may be along the way
Strategies to accelerate your development to achieving career success
Importance of recognizing lessons learned and mistakes along the way
How to align your values to your profession
Identifying core leadership behaviours to help drive career growth
Key tips for leveraging resources and network to attain career objectives
Recognizing the shortcuts and find out where the roadblocks may be along the way
Strategies to accelerate your development to achieving career success
Importance of recognizing lessons learned and mistakes along the way
How to align your values to your profession
Session3
Strategies and Skills for Successful Leaders
Carol D. Pennycook, Partner, Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP
9:00-9:45
Panel: Networking & Developing Strategic Relationships
Agnes B. Di Leonardi, General Counsel, Mazda Canada Inc.
Sherri Altshuler, Partner, Aird & Berlis LLP
Having access to key people and critical information can be the difference maker to reaching your goals and achieving success in a legal career. Strategic relationships are indispensable. This panel of successful women explore how they have networked and made the connections that led to their business development and career success.
Why women traditionally do not make the same crucial connections in more casual situations
How to effectively ask for and get business
Developing opportunities for making successful contacts
Carving out networking time
How women can identify opportunities to open up business dialogues and make useful connections
Turning strategic relationships into mentors, sponsors and clients
9:45-10:30
Panel: Lessons in Leading People and in Success
Janet L. Bobechko, Partner, Blaney McMurtry LLP
Katie Daniels, Deputy Director, Corporate Finance, Ontario Securities Commission
Carol D. Pennycook, Partner, Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP
Lisa Marcuzzi, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, ArcelorMittal Dofasco
Panel: Lessons in Leading People and in Success
The concept of leadership is evolving, with a style that depends on influencing, rather than commanding, others is emerging. Women, like all leaders, are most effective when they lead with authenticity, bringing their personal strengths, vision and voice to leadership. This panel of prominent and influential women will address how they have transcended gender expectations within their firm or organization to be seen as strong leaders, and how they have successfully dealt with resistance to their leadership.
Achieving the respect required to lead
Building shared values
Creating a team
Handling the people issues
Adhering to professional standards and clearly defined roles of leadership
Is it necessary to adopt male behaviour patterns and thought processes to succeed?
How can women use their different leadership style to add value?
Achieving the respect required to lead
Building shared values
Creating a team
Handling the people issues
Adhering to professional standards and clearly defined roles of leadership
Is it necessary to adopt male behaviour patterns and thought processes to succeed?
How can women use their different leadership style to add value?
10:30-11:00 NETWORKING BREAK
11:00- 11:45
Playing to Your Strengths to Become an Effective Leader
Nathalie Clark, General Counsel & Corporate Secretary, Canadian Bankers Association
By helping to recognize and leverage strengths, women can realize previously untapped leadership capacity. This discussion will help participants explore this notion in more depth, including:
Understand the difference between traditional and current models of leadership and the implications for development
Develop a process to uncover and celebrate your natural talents and strengths
How to develop and leverage talents through innovative leadership development initiatives through job crafting and deliberate change
Examine the link between your own leadership development and organizational transformation
Explore how organizational culture can impede or enhance the development of effective leaders
11:45-12:30
Navigating Through Career Changes
Carolyn Calwell, Legal Director of the Legal Services Branch, Family Responsibility Office
Change is a constant in the legal profession, particularly for women progressing through greater roles and responsibilities. Success is predicated on being able to adapt to the constant flux with purpose and equanimity - it also helps if you do not take yourself too seriously. This presentation details some practical tips and techniques for managing career change in the legal profession.
Capitalizing on opportunities to broaden experience
How do you transfer experience and skills to different sectors and demonstrate credibility and competence?
Deepening your networks and support systems
Lessons learned to enhance your effectiveness as a leader
12:30-1:30 Lunch
Session4
Overcoming Hurdles
Deborah Glendinning, Partner, Chair of the firm’s National Litigation Department and a member of Executive Committee, Osler Hoskin & Harcourt LLP
1:30- 2:15
Panel: Enhancing Leadership Through Communication
Deborah Glendinning, Partner, Chair of the firm’s National Litigation Department and a member of Executive Committee, Osler Hoskin & Harcourt LLP
Esther Zdolec, Senior Vice-President, Human Resources, Infrastructure Ontario
Eve Adams, MP Mississauga Brampton South and Parliamentary Secretary (Minister of Health), Parliament of Canada
Panel: Enhancing Leadership Through Communication
One of the most effective ways for women to project confident leadership is through clear and persuasive communications. This presentation will share tried-and-true principles for overcoming communication obstacles and ensuring that your communication skills are just as powerful and positive as your talents and abilities.
Reassessing your assumptions about how you communicate
Tips for projecting clarity and inspiring confidence
Delivering your message with empathy and your personal touch
Ensuring continuity between your visual and verbal messages
Communication 101 – the fundamentals we tend to ignore
Why giving others a voice is as important as finding our own voice
What it really means to be authentic
Reassessing your assumptions about how you communicate
Tips for projecting clarity and inspiring confidence
Delivering your message with empathy and your personal touch
Ensuring continuity between your visual and verbal messages
Communication 101 – the fundamentals we tend to ignore
Why giving others a voice is as important as finding our own voice
What it really means to be authentic
2:15-3:00
Creating a Female friendly Organizational Culture
Lynn Parsons, Partner, McCarthy Tétrault LLP
Suzanne Murphy, Partner, McCarthy Tétrault LLP
Despite representing approximately half of all law school students and half of all associates, women are twice as likely as men to leave the profession due to the demands of the legal profession. This discussion details how to ensure women flourish within the legal profession through fostering a more female friendly culture.
Offering regular opportunities for law firm/department to work and socialize across gender boundaries
Encouraging development of informal relationships and mentorship opportunities
Develop policies that ensure equal access quality assignments and training
Conducting firm-hosted women’s initiatives specifically tailored to interests of female lawyers
Creating work-life strategies
Designing flexible work hours
3:00-3:30 NETWORKING BREAK
3:30-4:15
The Art of Self-Promotion and Attracting Clients
Lisa Mattam, Managing Principal, The Mattam Group
Women in leadership roles must walk a fine line between displaying a self confidence that commands the respect of those around them and coming across as too aggressive. Attracting clients is both the product of effective self-promotion and a means of demonstrating your value to the firm. This presentation will discuss why effectively promoting yourself is important for both your law firm and the clients you retain.
Effective means of self-promotion
Developing your natural skills and working at using them as effectively as possible
Identifying and leveraging strengths that are underutilized
Authenticity: what style and substance really means
Assessing and knowing your own strengths
Gaining trust of clients
Projecting an image of self confidence
4:15 5:00
The Possible Made Practical: Radical Respect for the Woman-in-Law
Maureen Geddes, President of GeddesGlobal and past -president of CANGRAM International Inc.
With almost three decades of majority female graduates in law in Canadian universities, is the power of “the women-in-law” embraced with enthusiasm in your firm? Or do some outdated worldviews, perhaps your own, remain a challenge to transcend? The demographic numbers are a force to be reckoned with, but the real power for leadership comes from a different place: the transformation of women and men from within. Join Maureen in visioning the possible, and learning practical ways of being and doing to make the possible, practical.
An exploration of the ways women respect themselves, with increasing awareness of their influence on corporate culture and the world of work
Cracking the confidence code, and working with colleagues to understand female and male ways of communication
What is the context and purpose of being a woman-in-law?
