Legal Coordinator

The Legal Coordinator will support the Elevated Guideways and Stations Contract (“EGS”) of The Ontario Line ("OL"). The Primary Construction Team for this project consists of ACCIONA Infrastructure Canada Inc. (ACCIONA) and Amico Major Projects Inc. (Amico), as Trillium Guideway Partners (TGP).

The Legal Coordinator provides in-house legal support to the project and to the wider business, working under the direction of the Legal Counsel. The role spans three fields of work: administration of the head contract and the subcontracts beneath it, including the notice, payment and adjudication provisions of the Construction Act (Ontario); corporate, insurance, employment, privacy and licensing matters arising from the conduct of the business; and the preparation and conduct of disputes, including the instruction of external counsel. The position drafts, researches and advises within positions settled by the Legal Counsel, and refers questions of entitlement, admission of liability and settlement authority upward. It works alongside the Commercial and Contracts teams and carries no independent authority to bind the company.

Contract administration and construction law

• Review subcontracts, purchase orders, consultant appointments and amendments against the obligations flowed down from the head contract, and mark up departures for the decision of the Legal Counsel.
• Advise the Commercial team on notice periods, conditions precedent and time bars, and confirm that correspondence issued in the project’s name cites the clauses relied upon and observes the periods they impose.
• Prepare and review notices of delay, change and claim, and check that payment applications, notices of non-payment and payment certificates fall within the periods set by the subcontract and by the Construction Act (Ontario).
• Keep watch over construction lien registrations affecting the project, together with the preservation and perfection dates attaching to them, and advise on discharge, vacating or bonding off.
• Review letters of credit, performance and labour and material payment bonds, parent company guarantees and warranties, and confirm their terms answer the security the contract requires.

Corporate, commercial and compliance

• Prepare and maintain corporate records, including minute books, directors’ and shareholders’ resolutions, annual returns and extra-provincial registrations.
• Review and negotiate confidentiality agreements, consultancy agreements, equipment leases, licences and service agreements within the thresholds set by the Legal Counsel.
• Advise on insurance placement and renewal, test policy wordings against the requirements of the contract, and report circumstances and claims to insurers within the

notification periods.

• Assist on employment matters, including offer and termination documentation, restrictive covenants, workplace investigations and accommodation requests, taking direction on those requiring external advice.
• Track obligations under the Occupational Health and Safety Act, privacy legislation, and the procurement and integrity requirements applying to publicly funded work, and prepare the returns and attestations falling due.

Disputes and litigation

• Prepare chronologies, issue analyses and memoranda on entitlement, quantum and limitation, drawn from the contemporaneous record rather than from recollection.
• Issue and administer litigation holds, coordinate document preservation and collection, and conduct document review for productions in litigation, arbitration and adjudication.
• Prepare adjudication notices, responses and supporting submissions under the Construction Act (Ontario), and hold each to the short periods those provisions impose.
• Instruct and manage external counsel, covering scope, budget, reporting intervals and invoice review, and report departures from the agreed budget to the Legal Counsel.
• Attend mediations, examinations and hearings in a supporting capacity, and prepare witness and document briefs in advance of them.

Research, records and department administration

• Research questions of contract, tort, statutory interpretation and procedure, and report the conclusions in short written form with citation to the source relied upon.
• Maintain the department’s contract register, dispute register, insurance schedule and limitation diary, and check entries against the source documents.
• Prepare briefing notes and report extracts for the monthly cycle and for meetings with the client, the joint venture partners and the insurers.
• Circulate changes in legislation, regulation and reported decisions bearing on the project, with a short note on the practical effect for the project teams.

Work Conditions

• The primary work location is 789 Don Mills Rd. However, employees may be required to work from our 2 Queen St E office as needed.
• 5 days in office requirement.
• Juris Doctor or Bachelor of Laws from an accredited law school, and completion of the licensing process of the Law Society of Ontario.
• Two to five years in a legal support, contracts administration or corporate services role.
• Placement, co-op and student time in construction, infrastructure, litigation or corporate practice counts toward that period.
• Membership of the Institute of Law Clerks of Ontario, the Canadian Bar Association as an associate or student member, or a construction industry body such as the Ontario General Contractors Association, is an asset.

Knowledge

• Working knowledge of the Construction Act (Ontario), including prompt payment, holdback, lien preservation and perfection, and adjudication, is preferred.
• Familiarity with standard form construction contracts, including CCDC and CCA documents, and amendments commonly used in alternative delivery and public-private arrangements, is preferred.
• Grounding in Ontario civil procedure and in the arbitration and mediation routes commonly agreed in construction contracts.
• Exposure to major transit or linear infrastructure work is an asset.

Competencies

• Precise drafting, to a standard suitable both for documents issued in the company’s name and for filing before a court, arbitrator or adjudicator.
• Discernment to separate a question that may be answered at junior level from one that must be referred to the Legal Counsel before any position is stated externally.
• Capacity to hold several matters at once, each to its own limitation period and timetable.
• Discretion in handling privileged and confidential material, and care to preserve privilege in dealings with the commercial and site teams.