TORONTO and MONTREAL, April 18, 2005 – The Canadian Corporate Counsel Association (CCCA) and Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP (Davies) today released the results of a survey developed to find out the opinions and attitudes of in-house corporate counsel.

Conducted by Ipsos-Reid for CCCA, the on-line survey of 1,187 in-house corporate counsel, the first annual In-House Corporate Counsel Barometer, was sponsored by Davies. It was designed to cover three main areas of interest and importance to in-house counsel: (1)Being an In-House Counsel; (2)Managing the In-House Counsel Department; and (3)Managing Outside Counsel.
Highlights:

Being an In-House Counsel

• 91% of in-house counsel are satisfied with their job overall and 82% feel satisfied with their work-life balance. In fact, job satisfaction among in-house counsel is on the rise: 72% agree that, compared to a year ago, they are more satisfied with their job today.
• High levels of job satisfaction are likely driven by the strong beliefs among in-house counsel that their company values the work they do (89%), and that in-house practice is as challenging as law firm practice (91%).
  

Managing the In-House Counsel Department

• 60% say that staying on top of the volume of work is the most serious challenge to carrying out their responsibilities and the work issue that is of great concern to them; 57% cited concern about keeping on top of developments in the law.
• To deal with these challenges and remain effective in their job, 26% of in-house counsel feel they will personally have to learn business sector knowledge skills, 18% say they need accounting or financial skills and 11% say they need technology skills.

Managing Outside Counsel

• 43% expect the amount of money their company spends on outside counsel will increase, compared with 16% who expect this amount to decrease - despite the fact that half (49%) say they are under pressure to reduce both inside and outside legal costs in their organization.
• In selecting outside counsel, 62% say that whether or not a firm knows its business is one of their most important selection criteria.
  

A .pdf version of the full report is available by clicking here.

Established in 1988, the Canadian Corporate Counsel Association is a conference of the CBA. Its mission is to provide a national forum and voice for in-house counsel to advance the development of their practice of law and enhance their professional skills and careers. CCCA currently has a membership of more than 8,400 and is growing rapidly. This membership includes “Regular Members” who are employed as Canadian corporate counsel in virtually every industry across Canada and “Associate members” in private practice who actively support and enrich our educational programs.

Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP, with over 225 lawyers, practises nationally and internationally from offices in Toronto, Montréal, New York and an affiliate in Paris, and is consistently at the heart of the largest and most complex commercial and financial matters on behalf of its North American and overseas clients.

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For information:

CCCA: Effie J. Triantafilopoulos, Executive Director, Canadian Corporate Counsel Association, Tel: 416-869-1020, Fax: 416-869-0946, E-mail: etrianta@ccca-cba.org, please visit www.cancorpcounsel.org

Davies: Paul Carder, Director of Marketing and Business Development, Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP, Tel: 416-367-6975, Fax: 416-863-0871, E-mail: pcarder@dwpv.com.