our founders

Our History

The Women General Counsel Canada (WGCC) was founded in 2013 by a small group of women lawyers working in high level legal and business leadership roles. It was composed of members of the Women’s Law Association of Ontario (WLAO), a not-for-profit corporation dedicated to advancing issues and causes relevant to women in the legal profession through education and awareness programs and was originally called the WLAO General Counsel Chapter. 

The founding members saw value in having an opportunity to interact with their colleagues. The group was intended to provide a welcoming forum within which women in the role of general counsel, or an equivalent role, could discuss topics of common interest professionally and personally and participate in continuing professional development.

At its inception, the members of the WGCC met quarterly in and around the Greater Toronto Area. The meetings which typically occurred during the lunch hour were hosted by the members themselves and included personal and professional development topics.  A description of two of the early events is found below.

Founding Executives

• Alexa Abiscott  – Chair
• Marni S. Dicker – Past Chair
• Laila Brabander – Vice Chair – External
• Julia Shin-Doi  – Vice Chair – Internal
• Cheryl Foy – Secretary

Founding Members of the WLAO General Counsel Chapter

Alexa Abiscott Sheridan College	Laila Brabander Chubb	Norie Campbell TD Bank	Marni Dicker Infrastructure Ontario
Cheryl Foy Ontario Tech University	Sarah Huggins Toronto International Film Festival	Mary Martin Metrolinx	Michelle Moldofsky St. Michael's Hospital
Mary Murphy University of Guelph	Judy Naiberg Sony Music	Julia Shin Doi Ryerson University	Hilda Wong First National

Path to Incorporation

It was during fall of 2016 that WGCC started the process of incorporating.  The initial directors were:

• Julia Shin Doi (President)
• Cheryl Foy (Secretary)
• Bindu Cudjoe (Treasurer)

Initial Mission Statement

WLAO General Counsel Chapter created a mission statement.  It was the following:

WGCC is a proud chapter of the Women’s Law Association of Ontario

WGCC is a grassroots organization established by senior women in General Counsel roles who recognize that:

Our mission is to help women in general counsel and executive legal leadership roles succeed as legal and business executives through:

Early Events

1. “Pitch Perfect” Event on June 18, 2015

The “Pitch Perfect” event hosted by McCarthy Tétrault on June 18, 2015 saw 17 general counsel group members working with McCarthy Tétrault lawyers to support the development of the McCarthy women lawyers’ business development skills.

The McCarthy associates and partners were asked to “pitch” three GC’s in a speed-dating-like arrangement. The GC’s provided comments and feedback on the pitches and the themes were summarized at the end.

2.  General Counsel Chapter Meets to Build Leadership Skills

General counsel act as both lawyers and senior leaders within their organizations. It is often challenging for lawyers to make the transition from practicing law in private practice to practicing as a legal-leaders in in-house roles.  The change in role requires the development of leadership skills that are often underdeveloped in the law firm context.

On May 7, 2014, twenty members of WLAO’s General Counsel Chapter invited leadership expert, Karen Hanna (www.tkbhanna.com ) to talk to them about “Evolving as a Leader: Keeping the Best and Acquiring the Rest – Succeeding at the lawyer/leader transition”.

WLAO General Counsel Chapter Award

The WLAO working together with WGCC celebrate one of their members by awarding them the General Counsel Chapter Award at the WLAO’s Annual Award Gala which occurs in June of each year. 

Past Award Winners include: