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October 20, 2008

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Law times • OctOber 20, 2008 NEWS PAGE 3 Samantha Prasad co-authored the 'Green Guide for Lawyers' M BY ROBERT TODD Law Times from a Queen's law student who had no idea what she wanted to do with her career. Sitting in a swank board- inden Gross LLP part- ner Samantha Prasad has come a long way room at the firm's downtown Toronto offices, her passion for tax law is enough to make one think they're chatting with an articling student brimming with optimism and excitement. But Prasad, 35, has been practis- ing for over eight years, and is a major contributor to one of the country's top mid-size firms. She also has come a long way — over 700 km, to be precise — from the small northern On- tario town of Cochrane (popu- lation around 5,000) where she was born and raised. She fondly remembers her upbringing in the close-knit, half French- speaking community. "My parents were involved in the community and I was as well," she says. "When you're in a small town you have to get really involved with things. I played a lot of sports just be- cause you kind of have to keep yourself occupied." Prasad says her best friends from Cochrane remain her closest pals, although most have joined her in leaving the com- munity for Toronto. She was led away from the area to pursue her undergradu- ate studies at the University of Toronto, where she earned a combined major in international relations and political science. "Which is definitely not what you'd expect from a tax lawyer," she jokes. Prasad admits a career in the law was never part of her plans, but after entering Queen's Uni- versity's Faculty of Law — ini- tially without the intention of practising — she was hooked. She cites as a key experience a summer spent working at the Department of Justice in Ot- tawa, but adds that at the time she wanted some specific pri- vate practice experience. "I wanted to be in Toronto and I wanted to be at a firm . . . where I was going to be able to try different areas," she says. "But also a firm where I saw my- self kind of fitting in and grow- ing, and I wanted to be able to stay at a place like that." That led her to an articling term with Minden Gross. "It's the best decision I could have made," she says. "I got to do real stuff right from the get- go. I wasn't just stuck doing re- search. I was involved on deals and getting to meet clients." One of the areas Prasad tried Samantha Prasad has a passion for tax law. on for size was tax law, and she was lucky enough to practise in the area when she returned as an associate in 2000. She says a major pull toward tax law was Minden Gross' outstanding practice group, which grabbed her attention while articling. "The issues that came up were so interesting," she says. "I find that the stuff we do is so cre- ative. I was pleasantly surprised. When you're in law school, ev- eryone talks about, 'Oh, I have to do tax.' But the practise of it is really different. It's very cre- ative, it's lots of brainstorming." She suggests Minden Gross helped foster her passion for tax law by showing confidence in her abilities early on. "I was doing complicated corporate transactions as a first year associate; just me and one of the partners. Whereas, I think if I were at a large firm I would never have gotten the opportunity to do that until my fourth or fifth year . . . It was so amazing." She says that experience "has given me a taste of what it is that I can accomplish." Prasad has fuelled her fire for that specialty by writing on it. She was able to link with Da- vid Louis, chairman and senior member of Minden Gross' taxa- tion group. The pair wrote "Tax and Family Business Succession Planning," a second edition of which was release last year. "He's really nurtured that with me," she says of Louis, add- ing their writing partnership be- gan during her articling term. Aside from Louis, Prasad lists tax group senior partner Joan Jung as a key mentor. "Joan and David, when I was an articling student, were the ones that taught me, and they have been amazing," she says, noting various other lawyers at the firm also have supported her growth. "David is so creative, Joan is so technical that the team is unstoppable together." Prasad has clearly heeded the advice of these leading lawyers, and shown some leadership of her own. Her work with inter- national commercial law firm alliance Meritas — consisting of some 200 firms and 6,000 lawyers worldwide — is helping green the profession in a time of environmental urgency. In a recent partnership with other blue-chip lawyers selected from Meritas member firms, she co-authored the "Green Guide for Lawyers." The book serves as a best practices guide for law firms to increase efficiency and reduce waste. It was presented as the alli- Lawyers" is an example of how Prasad has established herself in the profession through hard work and top-notch performance, she admits it was tough to get respect early on as a tax lawyer. "There's always the gender thing," she says. "I've been lucky that the firm has been amazing about that. It's never been an issue." But business development has posed challenges, she says. "As a female lawyer going out While the "Green Guide for there, especially as a female cor- porate tax lawyer, I'm looking to develop business relationships with clients and accountants. "It was tough, I'd say, my first ance's annual meeting in Chicago last May, where it was strongly embraced by Meritas members. "The hope was this green guide would be a jumping point for Meritas to use, kind of a stan- dard for all Meritas law firms to aspire to," she says. "They loved it. They thought it was great." Her work on the book has changed Prasad's own behaviour. She recently installed energy ef- ficient windows in her house, and purchased a hybrid vehicle. five years of practice. Being a young female lawyer, they don't realize I golf too. I love going out for golf games. So that's always been an interesting challenge." Prasad says simply being in the industry for a while now has eased the gender burden, and she has benefited from attend- ing as many networking events as possible, and taking the added step of maintaining the contacts via lunch meetings. "One of the other things is just doing a really good job on a file," she says. "It's not just the lunches and the golf; it's being able to respond to [clients]. If they have a quick question, I get back to them right away. That's important to me, and clients like that. And they come back." LT This story ends our Women in Law series featuring profiles of female lawyers from around the province. In-depth coverage of recent legislation, case law and policy developments related to Canadian and international commercial and business law issues In print and now online, this internationally renowned journal strikes the right balance between commentary on current legislative and case law developments and in-depth analysis of major issues in the corporate, commercial and international arenas. Thought-provoking articles previously published in this journal include: Globalization and the Practice of Law – One Lawyer's Perspective – Reflections on the Recommendations of the Task Force to Modernize Securities Legislation in Canada: A Retail Investor Perspective – Piercing the Corporate Veil and the "Pure Form" of the Corporation as Financial Innovation – Legal Strategies to Profit from Peer Production – www.canadalawbook.ca www.lawtimesnews.com Canadian Business Law Journal (LT 1-3X4).indd 1 Recovery of Unauthorized Taxes: A New Constitutional Rights – Peter W. Hogg Kingstreet Investments: Taking a Pass on the Defence of Passing On – Access to CBLJ Online, for one personal workstation, is included with your print subscription. Additional workstations are available for an added charge. Benefits include: quick and easy electronic access to the most current CBLJ articles; one-stop comprehensive searching of the entire CBLJ library – more than 30 years worth of material; and 24/7 access to CBLJ Online from any Internet connection. 10/15/08 11:29:41 AM

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