At a firm managing nearly half a trillion in assets, growth is no longer measured in headcount. Michèle Lefaivre, who leads a team of 30 lawyers at the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec covering all asset classes, knows this reality intimately. All indicators point to exponential growth in the years ahead. Since headcount won’t grow at the same rate as assets, this creates an opportunity for innovation within the legal team.
Lefaivre made the move from private practice to in-house counsel in 2017, leaving the partnership at McCarthy Tétrault, where she spent a decade handling transactional M&A work. The decision wasn't an obvious move, but she had worked with La Caisse through client work and saw something compelling. "I could witness firsthand what they were doing in the markets... the role they were playing, and it just spoke to me," she says. “La Caisse operates under a unique dual mandate: generating returns for our six million depositors while supporting Quebec’s economic development – and that’s what sets them apart.” While private practice had treated her well – good colleagues, intelligent work, meaningful client relationships – the chance to shape strategy at a major financial institution held a different appeal.
Her role shifted substantially after joining. She started supporting a specialized private equity group, juggling cross-border deals between Montreal and New York. Today, she oversees investment legal work across all La Caisse’s asset classes, which include private equity, infrastructure, real estate and credit. That evolution mirrors a broader trend: in-house counsel are increasingly balancing technical expertise with operational demands.
The skills that matter most have shifted accordingly. Lefaivre identifies two critical areas for in-house lawyers beyond raw legal knowledge. First is communication – the ability to distill complexity without losing nuance. "How to get to what is essential without actually leaving anything out [is] a skill that you develop over time," she says. Second is understanding risk appetite. "Having a keen eye for where the real risks sit in an organization," she explains, helps legal teams guide decision-makers rather than just document transactions.
Managing regulatory change requires this same balanced perspective. The landscape looks chaotic from the outside – ESG, sustainability standards, and regulatory shifts are arriving constantly. However, Lefaivre cautions against a purely reactive approach: "The discourse around these different elements... has changed a little bit, but the actual regulatory landscape may not necessarily be changing as quickly," she says. Her team's sophistication – comprising regulatory specialists across all divisions, as well as a dedicated global affairs group – helps separate signal from noise. Quick adaptation matters, but so does factual analysis. "As lawyers, we can bring that element to the table."
The real inflection point isn't regulatory, though. It's technology. Lefaivre spends considerable time thinking about AI integration. La Caisse is piloting tools across the legal department, and the results are catching the attention of key stakeholders. One advantage of running a larger legal department is the ability to experiment responsibly, but Lefaivre is also mindful of avoiding suffocation in bureaucracy. "We have a strong focus on agility and being able to try stuff without making it unnecessarily administrative because there is a question of time here," she says.
For her investment lawyers specifically, AI unlocks something beyond efficiency. The department has a decade of market data and deal history. Accessing it in real-time across the entire dataset could shift how the organization positions itself. "The full breadth of what we have is going to unlock not only efficiencies but also consistency and moving certain things forward," she says.
This technological shift coincides with another reality: the role of in-house counsel is becoming more strategic. External counsel relationships matter more, not less. La Caisse maintains close connections with major firms globally and on the ground in key markets, such as Singapore and Europe. "The firms that we work best with are the ones who know us the best, who understand our business," Lefaivre says. This high standard keeps everyone sharp, because sophistication breeds sophistication. Her organization expects external advisors to bring insight and judgment.
That mindset extends beyond technology and relationships. For lawyers considering the move in-house, Lefaivre advises them to choose a business that genuinely interests them. Theoretical advice is easy; helpful advice requires understanding the business context, the pressures, and the real constraints. "You have to understand what you're opining on and the context that you're in and why you're doing it," she says.
In-house counsel roles are transforming. Tools are multiplying. Regulatory complexity is accelerating. Expectations are rising. Lefaivre sees this as energizing, not draining. "It's a time right now where people get to rethink a little bit what they do and why they do it," she says. Lawyers who embrace that shift – who move beyond checking boxes toward enabling strategy – set themselves up for impact. "But you have to embrace the change that goes with that."