“I love working with people and look forward to the future, and that`s one of the reasons I love coming to work at WSP every day,” says Mercier-Filteau. “We are building a wonderful legal department and continue to advance our ESG and sustainability goals for a better future for ourselves and others around the world.” Kevin Stubblebine has been appointed General Counsel of WSP USA, a leading engineering and professional services consulting firm. He succeeds Stephen Dale as General Counsel at WSP. Dale is now President of the Southeast Region for WSP. A team oversaw the integration, with Mercier-Filteau providing legal commentary on risk management, recruitment, operations, contracts, health and safety, human resources, insurance and claims management practices and processes. Open yourself to new ideas, test new software, and ways to handle legal tasks, but don`t be afraid to admit that something isn`t right for you. You need to be very careful, as not all technologies fit your use case. Try to test as much as possible before determining if you can actually implement it for long-term use. I appreciate that our use of technology allows any lawyer to double their workload, which is a significant benefit to the team.
The other great benefit that technology brings to our legal work is that it allows us to take a more systematic and connected approach to risk. The ability to search documents quickly and reliably is one of the best ways to identify and mitigate risk patterns in litigation, investigations, complaints, and many other areas. Working in a lean legal team means that each person must tap into all available resources to maximize their benefits to the business. I am a Certified Data Protection Officer and I am the designated Data Protection Officer for the Asia region. I am also a Certified Enterprise Risk Advisor, a Certified Business Continuity Officer, and I just passed the Anti-Bribery exams. This general education is a way to maximize the range of topics I can cover. The other is the effective use of technology. “This project was one of the greatest work I have ever done in more than two decades in this field,” says Ms. Mercier-Filteau, whose diligence and hard work led to a second promotion a month later, earning her the titles of Assistant General Counsel and Assistant Secretary General. Over the next seven years, she helped assemble a team of 35 lawyers and lawyers covering many areas of law, including mergers and acquisitions.
In 2021, she and her team were instrumental in WSP`s acquisition of Golder. Peer networks are disrupting legal education across Asia. GC asks its members how these new communities are filling knowledge gaps in legal technologies. When it comes to identifying and acquiring new technologies, we are fortunate to have a supporting IT function. New software is purchased by IT at the group level, but every decision follows close discussions with the various business units and support functions to ensure that a product adapts or can adapt what we need. My experience is that IT is always eager to explore new technologies and is happy to find things that make your life easier. Building this relationship with your IT staff is key to getting the right tools. But of course, as a GC, I also have to be involved in the process, because only front-line legal staff can really test a system. “I am delighted to welcome Kevin to WSP USA`s leadership team. He brings a unique combination of legal and technical experience to this role, and his appointment reflects the collaborative spirit that has already shaped our integration with Golder,” said Lou Cornell, President and CEO of WSP USA. Within the legal department, we now use technology for everything from eDiscovery to mapping and data analysis. Even beyond the initial legal work, we use technology to update our insurance certification or take care of our billing and billing.
Really, we couldn`t work as a function without this technology. So the question is not whether legal technology will become important – it is already essential to the way we work – but how it will change our actions and whether it will replace certain tasks. As far as I know, technology will not replace lawyers, but it will open up new ways of working and allow us to see things that were previously invisible. This is a rapidly evolving area of legal technology where we really need to keep our eyes open. For example, investigations require detailed knowledge of the underlying facts, and increasingly sophisticated software is being developed. As lawyers, we have to be very open to the possibilities that this software will open up. We almost have to forget for a moment that we are lawyers and see this as a data mapping task and not a legal task. Stubblebine has over 30 years of experience in engineering, construction and construction law. Since January 2016, he has been Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary at Golder, a global consulting firm providing geoscience and environmental consulting services.