What a corporate counsel does
Corporate counsel, also called in-house counsel or legal counsel, is a lawyer employed directly by your organization rather than by a law firm. Their client is the company itself. Day to day, they review and negotiate contracts, advise managers on legal risk, support compliance, answer employment and privacy questions and decide when to bring in outside counsel. In a smaller company one lawyer may cover all of this, while larger legal departments divide the work by specialty.
A good in-house lawyer reduces outside legal fees and helps deals close sooner, because they know the business and can give practical answers. The role calls for a different temperament from private practice: counsel must weigh legal risk against business goals and say no clearly when it matters. Finch screens for licence status, in-house or secondment experience, commercial judgment and the ability to work with executives and non-lawyers across your organization.
Typical responsibilities
- Draft, review and negotiate commercial contracts, from vendor agreements to customer terms
- Advise leadership and managers on the legal side of day-to-day decisions
- Support compliance programs, internal policies and regulatory filings
- Select and manage outside counsel, including scoping work and controlling legal spend
- Support corporate governance, including minute books and board and shareholder resolutions
- Train staff on contract approvals, confidentiality and privacy practices
Qualifications and credentials
- A licence to practise law in the province where the counsel will work; in Ontario, a Class L1 licence from the Law Society of Ontario in good standing
- Experience at a law firm, in an in-house legal department or both, often in corporate commercial law
- Knowledge relevant to your sector, such as privacy, employment, securities, technology contracts or health regulation
- Strong drafting and negotiation skills paired with a practical, business-minded approach
- Involvement in the Canadian Corporate Counsel Association is a plus, not a requirement
Who hires a corporate counsel
- Technology, SaaS and fintech companies
- Manufacturers, distributors and retailers with large volumes of contracts
- Health care, life sciences and other regulated businesses
- Real estate developers and property management companies
- Mid-sized companies hiring their first in-house lawyer
Where we recruit corporate counsel candidates
We fill corporate counsel roles for employers across Toronto and the GTA, including North York, Scarborough, Etobicoke, Vaughan, Markham, Richmond Hill, Mississauga, Brampton, Oakville, Burlington, Oshawa and Pickering, and for employers across Canada. GTA employers can meet us at our North York office by appointment.
What Finch checks before you meet a candidate
- Licence status in the right province, checked with the relevant law society
- Agreements the candidate has negotiated, and how they handled terms the business wanted to accept
- How they keep legal advice separate from business advice, and how they protect privilege
- Experience managing outside counsel and legal budgets
- Comfort working as a sole lawyer or within a legal team, depending on your structure
Interview questions to ask
- A sales leader wants to sign a customer contract today with terms you consider risky. What do you do?
- How do you decide which matters to handle yourself and which to send to outside counsel?
- Tell me about a legal risk you spotted that the business had not seen. How did you raise it?