the SOCIETY RECORD - Nova Scotia Barristers' Society

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Women bring strength to leadership in legal profession Janice Stairs (at left); Tilly Pillay QC (at right), Second Vice-President In a new dialogue on how women lawyers can maximize their potential and assume greater leadership roles in law and business, the late Dara Gordon QC continues to inspire others. About 70 women from across the province attended the Society’s inaugural Women – Strength in Leadership: Remembering Dara Gordon QC, held February 28 at the Ashburn Golf Club in Halifax. “Dara was proof that a woman can put her spouse and family first yet still aspire to, and achieve, success in her profession,” said Suzan Frazer, a Partner at McInnes Cooper who worked closely with Ms. Gordon for two decades. “Dara made a name for herself and opened the door for many of us in Atlantic Canada – men and women alike – by proving there are lawyers here who are every bit as competent as their counterparts in major centres. Clients don’t need to go to Toronto to get their complex work done.” Janice Stairs, current Chair of the Board of Nova Scotia Business Inc., was invited to lead the conversation at the new annual event, which is supported by McInnes Cooper. She recalled being torn between business and law as a young graduate with an LLB and an MBA, and met Ms. Gordon during her first articling rotation. 32 The Society Record “At that time, she was developing the securities law practice. And if any of you have worked in that area, you’ll know it’s a wonderful melding and Marla Cranston Communications Officer blending of both business acumen as well as the legal aspects. So I was hooked,” said Ms. Stairs, who is also General Counsel and Corporate Secretary to TSX-listed Namibia Rare Earths Inc., and Director of TSX/NYSE-listed NovaCopper Inc. This “serendipity” led to 20 years of working closely with Ms. Gordon and Ms. Frazer, who developed a critical mass of women lawyers in the firm’s corporate finance group, to the point where “the joke kind of became why weren’t there more men working in that group … but I think quite seriously it did reflect the fact that women working together with women can really help women move careers along,” Ms. Stairs said. “It was a wonderful experience, and I was very fortunate. It’s one of those things you don’t realize when it’s happening because I didn’t appreciate that having a role model and a mentor like Dara was such a gift to me and the development of my career and my practice. It’s only now as I’ve gotten older and watched other women trying to succeed and find a path through the legal profession and in business that I realize how critically important it is to be able to find a mentor, or what a difference it can make in your career.”
A desire to broaden and deepen her leadership skills led Ms. Stairs to make the switch from private practice to the resource industries. One of the great things about practising corporate law is “you get to see a lot of different companies, and you get to drill down to the 10-foot level within those companies. But you don’t get the opportunity to really drill down to the 50- or 60-foot level within a company and to be involved in the senior management team on a day-to-day basis,” she explained. “So the opportunities have been quite extraordinary, not only to work in a corporate environment but also to experience cultures and different geographic areas that, if you’d asked me when I was sitting in my accounting class in commerce, whether I ever saw that in my future, it wasn’t anywhere on the radar.” With members of the crowd also sharing anecdotes and examples, the discussion delved into a number of issues that may be holding women back from leadership roles, from continued gender stereotyping in the boardrooms to legal work environments that haven’t kept pace with the corporate sector as far as adapting to allow greater flexibility. The ‘courage gene’ Women can sometimes lack confidence when they have opportunities to move ahead, added Ms. Stairs. “A lot of times, men just get over that bit of self-analyzing about ‘am I good enough, do I have the skills, can I do this?’ I think as women, we often spend way too much time thinking about can we or can’t we. As a result, we become paralyzed … so I call it the courage gene, to be able to go out and push yourself outside your comfort zone to take a risk.” Again, Ms. Gordon was a great example – she was always extremely well prepared and her confidence made her clients and colleagues feel very comfortable, and also made opposing counsel take her very seriously when they saw the results she got. “I remember when the Confederation Bridge file came in, we were representing the federal government and there was just a hullabaloo across Canada at the major law firms, as if there was no way a rinky-dink firm in Halifax could represent that file … Dara said, ‘We can do this.’ And she was fearless, she had that courage gene,” said Ms. Stairs. Leadership styles In general, she added, women can bring a more democratic and collaborative approach to leadership situations – an assertion that’s backed up in many research studies, including a new survey released in March by the International Journal of Business Governance and Ethics. “I think women do lead differently than men. The literature says we’re hard-wired differently … that women use different parts of the brain and we multi-task better than men do,” Ms. Stairs said. Suzan Frazer of McInnes Cooper “I don’t think that applies across the board, every woman, every man. And both styles of leadership are important. One of the reasons that diversity in the boardroom in the C-suite, and at the senior levels of law firms and accounting firms, is so important is because the literature also says that the more diverse your group in the decision-making, the better the decision-making for the group.” Remembering Dara L. Gordon QC Through the strength of her leadership and as a highly regarded lawyer and business woman, Dara Gordon QC made many contributions to her country, her province and her profession. Following graduation from Dalhousie Law School in 1979, she advised government bodies and corporations on major financing and infrastructure projects, as a member of McInnes Cooper’s Corporate Finance and Energy & Natural Resources Groups and as a lawyer with its predecessor firms. Dara represented the Government of Nova Scotia in its complex federal negotiations on the sharing of offshore resource revenues, and was lead counsel for the Government of Canada in the financing, construction and operation of the Confederation Bridge. She also served as a director of the Nova Scotia Law Foundation, the Nova Scotia Gaming Corporation and the Atlantic Lottery Corporation. As an entrepreneur, Dara’s most notable business endeavour was her family’s internationally acclaimed Benjamin Bridge winery in the Annapolis Valley. She was a member of the Canadian Bar Association, the Canadian Council for Public Private Partnerships and, prior to her untimely death in 2009, a member of McInnes Cooper’s Board of Directors. Dara was an extraordinary woman of style and grace, with an abundance of wisdom and compassion that she generously shared with her family, friends and colleagues. As a mentor and collaborator, she positively influenced the outcomes of many legal issues, the success of the firms and businesses where she practised, and the careers of many lawyers in Nova Scotia. She always challenged us to be our best. Spring 2013 33
Page 1 and 2: the SOCIETY RECORD VOLUME 31 | NO.1
Page 3 and 4: Contents VOLUME 31 | NO 1 | Spring
Page 5 and 6: the president’s view As I travel
Page 7 and 8: BRIEFS Nova Scotia lawyers honoured
Page 9 and 10: BRIEFS Annual networking events for
Page 11 and 12: society news Council updates Societ
Page 13 and 14: society news For more details on th
Page 15 and 16: Madonna was an active participant i
Page 17 and 18: Illegal downloading of music, film
Page 19 and 20: Society’s successful initiative t
Page 21 and 22: say the public policy reasons are n
Page 23 and 24: “These dwindling numbers [of lawy
Page 25 and 26: Small rural and close communities -
Page 27 and 28: Photo by Eliot Wright/Provided by N
Page 29 and 30: “Volunteering allows for a break
Page 31: in police service delivery. They pr
Page 35 and 36: The students appreciate the opportu
Page 37 and 38: 7. Update! Make sure you have the l
Page 39 and 40: Spring 2013 39

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