A seismic shift is underway in the senior living sector. According to Andrea Fellows, the first-ever general counsel at Amica Senior Lifestyles, legal and business strategies are evolving fast to meet the demands of a new generation of residents and a rapidly changing regulatory landscape.
“We’re delivering high-quality experiences and housing and taking care of seniors and letting them live their best possible lives,” she says. For Fellows, the mission is both personal and corporate. Hired as a first-year law student at Goodmans, Fellows credits a mix of luck and credentials for landing her first job, but it was early exposure to deal work that set the stage for her career. After several years at Goodmans, she was approached about an opportunity at Oxford Properties Group, the real estate investment arm of OMERS pension plan, where she gained visibility into strategy and investment from start to finish, all while enjoying a better work-life balance.
After nine years at Oxford, Fellows was approached to become Amica’s general counsel, building a legal function from scratch at a large organization that had never had an in-house lawyer. “They were doing a lot of transactional and development work…but then [I was also] able to flex new muscles and work on the operational side of the business,” she says. The move also offered a sense of purpose: “With Amica, there is obviously a very clear and laudable purpose… you’re looking to enrich the lives of seniors and build housing for the increasing seniors population. So it was not a difficult choice to make,” she says.
The rewards are real, but the obstacles are just as stark. Fellows saw a chance to overhaul a reactive legal culture and push the organization to think ahead. The learning curve cut both ways. “They hadn’t had a lawyer before, and they didn’t know… what is the role of an in-house lawyer or a general counsel? What do they do? What do they not do? What is their lane? And how can they help me? Are they just an internal ‘no’ person?” she says. The scope of issues she oversees is vast, ranging from billion-dollar acquisitions to resident agreement disputes.
She calls Amica’s recent transaction with Welltower, which is not yet closed, a “once in a blue moon” experience. As the lead in-house lawyer, she’s responsible for guiding the company through a disruptive and complicated process. “You’re the lawyer that is able to help the businesspeople navigate something that is extremely complicated and disruptive, because they’re also still responsible for running the business,” she says.
Joint ventures and development deals demand close collaboration with many stakeholders. “I’ve also gotten the opportunity to work with partners and lenders and construction managers and developers to sew it all together and bring something… that starts with assembling a few houses into what is ultimately developed into a new newly built, fully operational Amica,” she says.
Demographic shifts are forcing Amica to rethink its entire approach. The boomer generation is entering senior living with different expectations than previous generations. “They have different expectations and wants, in terms of service, and in terms of how they want to live and spend their time in one of our residences,” she says. The company must evolve to meet these demands while also navigating regulatory changes, tariffs, and supply chain issues. Fellows points to recent policy changes in British Columbia that are forcing operators to reconsider some aspects of their business models. The challenge is to reconcile prescriptive, sometimes conflicting, pieces of legislation with the practical realities of running a business that provides housing, food, and care.
Deciding what stays in-house and what goes to external counsel is a constant balancing act. “There’s low-hanging fruit here that doesn’t need to be going out… [such as] contract review or routine one-off questions,” she says. For more complex transactional work, she relies on strong partnerships with external service providers, but she’s careful to manage those relationships efficiently. Amica has a long-standing relationship with a law firm that Fellows describes as “pragmatic and solution-oriented.”
Diversity, equity, and inclusion shape how Fellows leads. At Amica, she attacks the issue on two fronts: building a workforce where everyone is seen and heard, and tackling the tougher job of educating residents who have never experienced modern ED&I initiatives. “There’s a different level of education that we’re offering to our residents, which is also something that I find fascinating,” she says. As executive sponsor of a women’s employee resource group – a network dedicated to supporting and advancing women in the workplace – Fellows is seen internally as a champion for diversity and inclusion.
For lawyers eyeing a move in-house, Fellows urges them to meet business partners where they are: “You have to speak their language and be confident that they’re looking to you as an expert… [If] you can come at it from the perspective of, ‘I’m going to help you get to where you need to go by pointing out how we can weave through any risks and manage them appropriately’… [then] you’re seen as a business enabler and a partner and a collaborator and that’s [ultimately] going to get you your seat at the table,” she says.
Fellows is tracking housing costs, interest rates, demographic shifts, and legal changes. The Welltower acquisition will fundamentally change Amica’s business model, shifting it from owner-operator to management company. “It’s a completely different owner with different governance and different expectations. And so how do we change and shift how we currently do many of our processes to plug into that machine?” she says. For now, she’s steering Amica through this transition, preparing the company for a new era in senior living.