Two Osgoode alumni are the recipients of 2023 Canadian General Counsel Awards, which are presented annually to honour excellence in the in-house counsel community across the country.
Sloane Litchen ’96, who serves as senior vice-president and general counsel for Toronto-based Sun Life Canada was co-recipient of the Blakes Judy L. Wilson Diversity Award, which is presented to a law department that has demonstrated an innovative approach to promoting diverse and inclusive workspaces within their organization or across their industry.
Jacob Posen ’14, general counsel, private infrastructure, in the Toronto office of New York-based CBRE Investment Management, was presented with the Sun Life Tomorrow’s Leader Award. According to the nomination criteria, the award seeks to recognize individuals with superior leadership skills and legal capability who will continue to advance the role and stature of general counsel into the future.
Litchen, who shared the award with her colleague Trish Callon, senior vice-president and general counsel, corporate, with Sun Life Canada, said the company’s legal department was recognized for its campaign to embed diversity, equity and inclusion into the design and execution of all aspects of its talent management discipline.
“That included making changes to ways in which we were sourcing, selecting, retaining, developing and promoting our talent,” she said in an email.
The 18th annual Canadian General Counsel Awards gala was held June 12 at the Fairmont Royal York in Toronto. The recipients of the 10 awards are chosen by the CGCA advisory board from among a group of nominated finalists.