Career

The in-house counsel role appeals to those with a passion for learning and who thrive on challenge and change. It is the ideal profession for ambitious individuals like KJ (Ke-Jia) Chong, the current Treasurer on the CCCA Executive Committee. We spoke with KJ about her career, her motivations and her lifelong commitment to learning.

As we enter a new year, still full of uncertainty but perhaps seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, the CCCA continues to ensure a strong and supportive presence for in-house counsel across Canada. This is why we exist – to serve you, our members – a purpose that Steve Smyth, 2022-2023 Chair, takes to heart. We spoke with Steve to get his sense of where we are as a profession and where we are going.

Meet Josh Vander Vies, the recipient of the Scholarship for In-House Counsel Living with Disabilities for  the 2020 cohort the CCCA's Business Leadership Program for In-House Counsel.

New research urges organization’s legal leaders to prioritize employee wellbeing post-pandemic

In 2018, I joined Arctic Co-operatives Limited, a service federation owned and controlled by community-based co-ops in the Northwest Territories, Nunavut and the Yukon. It is by far the most rewarding job I have ever had, as the co-op movement has been important to our Arctic communities’ ability to maintain their lifestyle and culture.

Our conference team has been working diligently to bring interactivity and impactful learning into this fully online experience. We did a rapid-fire Q&A with Stephanie Lockhart, our conference planner extraordinaire, to see how we are focusing on motivating, engaging and inspiring participants.

Many in-house counsel departments are small. While it may seem overwhelming at first to be the “loneliest number,” here are eight tips I have learned to help you survive and thrive as a solo practitioner or in a small department.

The most successful leaders are those who are able to learn and grow from these experiences. Yet, dealing with failure well is not a skill we are ever taught how to do. It is a skill we either learn the hard way, or not at all.

Diversity means having a legal profession that reflects our population. Yet, foreign-trained law students, whether they are Canadians who study abroad or students who complete their law degree abroad before immigrating here, face daunting and unique challenges.

When people ask me why I left private practice, I usually blame my husband. I explain that when we married, he was already a partner at the firm where I was an associate. It made sense that I would be the one to leave. The truth is a bit more complicated. I left because I felt that I was not good enough to stay.