My law practice is restricted to contract assignments with diverse organizations including small businesses, statutory corporations, not-for-profit corporations, and large publicly traded companies. Currently I receive referrals from CEO Law Canada. I have completed a broad range of commercial law projects including the revision of a privacy compliance program, the development of a corporate governance program, the development of a new by-law for a not-for-profit corporation, developing a pension plan governance structure, and the negotiation and drafting of a range of commercial agreements.

As a part-time member of the Ontario Land Tribunal, I adjudicated numerous planning cases and prepared comprehensive written decisions for the parties. An extensive portfolio of my decisions is available on the Ontario Land Tribunal website.

I established and managed the Canadian legal and compliance department for Philips Lighting (now Signify), the global lighting industry leader. I was an officer and director of the Canadian affiliates of Signify and managed the board meetings as Corporate Secretary. With management support, the legal and compliance department, comprised of a lawyer and a law clerk, developed into a sophisticated service function, delivering value to the organization. We furnished high quality, bilingual, legal services at a low cost for the marketing, sale and manufacture of lighting products and services across Canada. My legal work was focused on corporate law, corporate governance, commercial law, employment law, labour relations, pension and benefits law, privacy law, advertising law, product liability and litigation management. Some important accomplishments were disentangling the Philips Lighting business from Philips Healthcare and effecting its transfer into a separate corporate entity, the corporate name change to Signify Canada, the successful negotiation of five collective agreements including a warehouse closure, the effective management of complex litigation and the significant reduction of outside counsel fees.

I managed the Corporate Compliance Division for Honda. Our group was responsible for legal services, risk management, insurance, audit and government relations for Honda Canada, Honda Financial Services and Honda Canada Foundation. I was an officer of both Honda Canada and Honda Canada Foundation. From 2007 until 2013, I was also a director of the Canadian Motor Vehicle Arbitration Plan, a private consumer dispute arbitration program funded by the automotive industry. The mandate of the program is to resolve disputes between manufacturers and consumers regarding new vehicle quality and product warranties.I transformed the Honda Legal Department from an unsophisticated function of one lawyer and a secretary into a high performing legal group of four lawyers, three law clerks and one legal assistant. My legal team furnished bilingual legal services to Honda in all facets of law relating to the marketing, sale, finance and lease of Honda and Acura motor vehicles and multi-products across Canada. We significantly reduced the outside counsel fees paid by Honda, while improving the quality, relevance and speed of our services. My legal experience was focused on corporate law, corporate secretarial work, corporate governance, privacy law, commercial law, dealer relations, competition and advertising law, intellectual property law, information technology law, employment law and product liability and litigation management. Some important accomplishments were the successful management of numerous complex dealer terminations while rationalizing the dealer network and the development of a class action avoidance strategy saving the company millions of dollars. In the compliance area, I established a credible audit function which added value to the business. I also developed impactful plain language, corporate policies and training effecting a significant upgrade in the level of compliance and corporate governance at Honda.

At Sunoco, I was bilingual, senior counsel covering the full range of legal services for the refining, marketing and sale of petroleum products and natural gas in Canada. My experience was focused on corporate and commercial law, competition and advertising law, energy regulatory law, franchise law, environmental law, intellectual property law, information technology law, real estate law, and litigation management. I was awarded exceptional ratings throughout my employment due to the quality of my legal work and the achievement of significant reductions in outside counsel fees. I was appointed Acting Director of the Legal Department for a year in October 1996 due to a leave of absence. Some important accomplishments were the complete plain language, redraft of all franchise agreements, the successful management of numerous competition law and environmental law investigations, the handling of all corporate acquisitions and divestitures in-house, the successful rationalization of the dealer network and the preparation of the legal frameworks and documents for the successful establishment of Sunoco’s new natural gas business.

I was responsible for providing trade-mark legal services on a world-wide basis for a large telecommunications company.

I was responsible for all aspects of commercial law for a large chemical and technology licensing firm. This included negotiating and drafting intellectual property licenses, engineering supply agreements, and intellectual property joint ventures.