Executive legal assistant

PURPOSE OF ROLE

This role provides executive legal, corporate secretarial and administrative support to the Legal department and manages all administrative processes and procedures for the Legal department and the Board of Directors. The incumbent is able to redirect issues as appropriate in absence of the Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary.
 

KEY FUNCTIONS

Administrative services
 

• Maintains administrative procedures and processes for the Legal Team – makes travel arrangements; prepares expense accounts and payment vouchers, and ensures they are kept in good order; oversees the ordering and maintenance of stationery supplies and equipment for the department; and maintains manual files and folders of the Legal Team.
• Reviews, classifies and processes the payment of departmental invoices and handles any other accounting issues related to the legal and corporate secretarial department.
• Ensures that timelines and deadlines are respected for all initiatives, objectives, projects and matters of the department.
• Develops procedures and processes to respond to the needs of the Manager and the department.
• Provides technical, administrative, and/or supervisory guidance and leadership to other administrative support staff as required.  Provides back-up to the Executive Assistant to the President and Chief Executive Officer and to the Executive Assistant to the Vice-President, Finance and Chief Financial Officer.
• Contacts the following personnel upon request of the Manager:
  • Administrative support staff across and outside the corporation to solve problems, obtain/exchange information and to expedite administrative action.
  • All levels of staff within the organization to expedite action on behalf of the Manager. 
• Updates procedures for preparation of Board documentation and sends meeting invites to Senior Management Team in order to ensure timing is met for preparation of documents needed to be reviewed and approved prior to the Board meetings.
• Prepares draft agendas, resolutions and Notices of Meetings for Board and Committee meetings.
• Prepares Board and Committee binders for Corporate Secretary.
• Updates Company Dashboard on a monthly basis.
• Provides reception coverage, as needed.
   

Legal support services
 

• Prepares general legal documents and correspondence.
• Conducts, with minimal supervision, diverse legal support tasks. Responds to incoming legal and corporate secretarial requests.
• Summarizes all outstanding litigation matters for status report to the Board.
• Responsible for organizing and maintaining files, including litigation, legal, corporate secretarial, etc.
• Responsible for maintaining and updating legal reports and corporate secretary files to ensure current information is available.
• Corresponds with law firms, as required.
• Acts as the liaison with outside legal counsel on billing matters related to the corporation. Tracks the approval and processing of legal invoices to ensure timely payment.
• Ensures that all statutory regulatory filings are completed as required.
• Processes extra-provincial statutory regulatory filings by liaising with external legal counsel to ensure accurate completion of returns, updated Directors & Officers Registers and processing of applicable fees. 
• Coordinates and attends quarterly insurance claims meetings and updates legal reports for Risk Advisor & Records Manager and Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary.
• Liaises with external auditors in retrieving agreements/contracts and co-coordinating legal audit letters to external counsel and maintains the litigation status report based on lawyers’ responses and updates received by regional staff in order to provide verification of data for the annual external audit report.
   

Board support services
 

• Processes Chair’s expenses and provides administrative/support to him/her as needed.
• Maintains all Board meeting records, and makes Directors’ travel and meeting facility arrangements.
• Maintains an overall coordinative role for the Board.
• Handles all aspects of on and off-site meetings (venue, hotel, travel, meals, etc.) of the Board/Committees liaising with fellow colleagues in regional offices and outside suppliers.
• Composes moderately complex letters, resolutions and reports by identifying required information, researching and gathering background information from appropriate sources for the Board/Committees.
• Provides Board-related information to appropriate individuals using judgment of sensitivity and confidentiality.
• Supports the presentation needs of the Manager, and maintains related files.
• Sends calendar invites to all Board members for scheduled Board meetings.  Also posts them in the calendar on Diligent Boards portal.
• Canvasses Board members for unscheduled Board and Committee meetings and sends meeting invites to them once the timing of meetings has been confirmed.
• Prepares, assembles and issues all materials for meetings of the Board and Board Committees, and posts the materials on Diligent Boards portal for access by the Directors and, as appropriate, by SMT.
• Creates and prepares Board Meeting Structured Review questionnaire for each Board meeting on Diligent Boards and compiles and publishes results.
• Posts Board-related documents in Resource Center on Diligent Boards and updates when necessary.
• Assists Corporate Secretary in selection process for new Directors.
• Prepares Director Orientation binders for new Directors.
• Prepares all documents required for new Board members once they are elected.
• Handles all arrangements for professional development courses/seminars for Board Members.
   

Corporate records
 

• Maintains and updates the electronic directories and folders on the department’s network drives.   Following Board meetings, prepares advices, updates resolution indices, and posts relevant documents on SMT drive and Legal drive. 
• Assists with contract management for the whole Legal department (except for employees’ personnel files).
• Creates and maintains the department’s files through HPRM (or other company file management software system).
• Acts as liaison officer for HPRM for the Legal department.
• Reviews files on a regular basis for the retention or archival of the files keeping in mind their confidential nature and legal scope.
   

Time management
 

• Screens requests and identifies issues to determine priorities and reads and ranks incoming mail.
• Identifies potential problems and shifting priorities in order to adjust the Manager’s schedule as necessary.
• Organizes workload to ensure that deadlines are met for posting of Board materials prior to the Board and Committee meetings.
   

Qualifications and experience
 

• Post-secondary degree or diploma in related field required.
• Must have Legal Assistant, Law Clerk or paralegal certification from an accredited organization, or must have a minimum of five years of experience in a corporate legal department, law firm or in a comparable position.
• Knowledge of legal terminology, grammar, vocabulary and spelling in both English and French.
• Excellent skills in the use of desktop software (including but not limited to: Diligent Boards, Word, Excel, PowerPoint and HPRM).
• Bilingualism (English/French) required.
   

To express your interest in being considered for this position, please forward your resume in confidence to hr-rh@clc.ca by Tuesday July 21, 2020 at 4:00pm EST. We thank all applicants for participating in the selection process. Only those selected for further consideration will be contacted.

Canada Lands Company CLC Limited is an equal opportunity employer that is committed to inclusive, barrier-free recruitment and selection processes. In accordance with the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005 and the Ontario Human Rights Code, Canada Lands Company is proud to provide employment accommodation during the recruitment, selection and/or assessment processes. Should you require an accommodation, please inform us as soon as possible and we will work with you to meet your accessibility needs.