Submitted by Section Chair, Vincent Kam Sun Yip
Summary of Meetings
Number of Meetings Held: 3
November 15, 2012
Guest Speaker: N/A
Synopsis: This was a social event for our Section members to kick off the new year.
May 17, 2013
Guest Speakers: Amanda Harris, Corporate Counsel, Methanex Corporation Joel Guralnick, General Counsel, Vision Critical Robert Piasentin, General Counsel, Sierra Systems
Synopsis: Practicing In-House And What External Counsel Can Do Better
The speakers spoke about the nature of being an in-house counsel and the challenges of being counsel in-house. The speakers also provided tips to attendees as to what external counsel can do better to assist in-house counsel, including budgeting, providing practical advice, timely billing, etc.
June 28, 2013
Guest Speaker: Beth Macdonald, McCarthy Tétrault LLP Larry Munn, Clark Wilson LLP
Synopsis: What You Need To Know About Bill C-56, The Combating Counterfeit Products Act
The speaker spoke about the proposed amendments to the Copyright Act and the Trade-marks Act. Larry spoke about the anti-counterfeiting related changes in both statutes. Beth discussed the potential changes to the Trade-marks Act, including amendments relating to harmonization of Canadian trade-mark law with international treaties and changes to opposition procedures.
Reports and Resolutions
Our Section has not been as active as we would like in the past year. However, the two talks we held were quite successful, especially the session with in-house counsel speakers. We have elected new members to the executive and we hope to increase the number of events and meetings we hold in the upcoming year.
Comments and Observations of the Chair
By having a member of the executive in Victoria, we were hoping to increase participation from Section members in Victoria. We are continuing to work on this initiative.
Our Section was not as active as I would like it to be. Part of the reason is that the other executive members did not take a lot of initiative with regards to planning and setting up meetings. In addition, one member of our executive did not participate on any event planning, did not attend any of the events, and was completely unresponsive to emails. Therefore, I think CBABC should implement a policy to allow members of the executive to replace a non-performing member of the executive.
With new executive members on board, we are hoping to increase the number of meetings we hold next year.