Patrice Walch-Watson sits at the intersection of law, business, and leadership as senior managing director, general counsel, and corporate secretary at the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments). It’s a role that has her overseeing legal, compliance, the board secretariat, and internal audit functions, but the job doesn’t stop there. “I wear a number of hats in the organization, in addition to my general counsel hat,” she says. That includes sitting on the senior investment committee and the investment strategy and risk committee, shaping global market decisions.
Managing a team of 95 people across multiple cities, including Toronto, Mumbai, Hong Kong, New York, London, and São Paulo, means her work is never confined to one jurisdiction. The scope of responsibility is vast, but Walch-Watson's approach is pragmatic. “We manage through what we call a hybrid model,” she explains, describing the balance between internal expertise and external partnerships. For compliance, the team is lean but strategically placed globally, led by former litigator and OSC regulator Katie Daniels. “Our view on compliance is really that compliance needs to be fit for purpose, with an understanding of the global regulatory environment and a clear understanding of our business.”
This hybrid approach extends to legal operations. “We are pretty leanly staffed given our size, and we work really closely with our investment teams,” she says. External counsel plays a key role, but Walch-Watson insists on working with “smart partner law firms” that understand the organization’s mandate and footprint. It’s not enough for counsel to be technically skilled – they need to grasp how CPP Investments’ operations interact with the rapidly shifting regulatory landscape. “What's going on in the US right now with all of the regulatory change means that there's regulatory change being looked at in the UK or Australia to keep up or to stay ahead of things.”
Consideration of material factors around governance and sustainability are deeply embedded in CPP Investments’ strategy, reflecting a long-standing institutional commitment, Walch-Watson says. “When I started in this organization almost 10 years ago, we had a sustainable investing policy.” She says sustainability isn’t an overlay but a core lens for evaluating investments. “It can give you really good opportunities to increase the value of a portfolio company or to optimize it on its sale.” Proxy voting guidelines, board practices, and internal training reinforce this approach, ensuring material sustainability considerations are embedded, not siloed.
Unsurprisingly, generative AI is another frontier Walch-Watson navigates with careful optimism. “Generative AI is a big topic for us, and it's a tool that we're really leaning into,” she says. CPP Investments has built a sandbox environment to experiment with AI-powered legal agents, enabling faster, more efficient searches of internal policies and procedures. The goal is to empower employees across the organization with self-service access to information while maintaining strict data privacy standards. “We're always really careful about where the information is going and who has access to it.”
AI’s impact extends beyond internal efficiencies. “We think about it from an investment perspective. What are the things people are missing, where we can really drive value that generative AI might be able to shine a light on for us?” she says. CPP Investments collaborates closely with external law firms and accounting giants, leveraging their technological advancements while piloting new tools internally. However, Walch-Watson is clear-eyed about the risks, emphasizing the importance of responsible AI principles within CPP Investments and across its portfolio companies.
Reflecting on how the role of general counsel has evolved, Walch-Watson points to an expanded mandate. “It’s not just ‘Can you come in and look at every contract?’ It’s ‘Can you think strategically about how we optimize things across the company?’” she says. Many general counsels now oversee areas beyond legal and compliance, including sustainability and public affairs. This broader remit demands discernment about what work stays in-house and what goes to external counsel. “It’s not always the entirety of a deal,” she notes. “It could be a particular aspect of a deal.”
Walch-Watson offers candid advice for young lawyers aspiring to in-house roles: “Be curious, be proactive, and take the time to understand the business you're advising.” She emphasizes the importance of relationship-building, describing the legal career as a “long game.” Connections made early in one’s career can resurface unexpectedly, opening doors or offering guidance. “Take the time to get to know people and stay in touch with those people,” she says. “It really can make a big difference.”
But perhaps her most striking counsel is about risk-taking. Transitioning from private practice at Torys LLP, where she built a 24-year career, to CPP Investments wasn’t a foregone conclusion. “For me, moving from a partnership role at Torys into a general counsel role at an investment organization that I have never worked in was, I would say, an informed gamble,” she says. “It's paid off for me in just so many ways, but it is a chance I took. Sometimes, people think lawyers are risk-averse. I think you need to be risk-informed and not afraid to take some of those chances.”
That appetite for calculated risk extends to how she evaluates external counsel. Walch-Watson views legal work as a “team sport,” where the best firms deliver not just individual expertise but the full breadth of their institutional knowledge. “It’s not about a particular individual, it's about all of the smart people and perspectives you have at your firm and are you really delivering all of that to us in providing advice?” she says. Just as importantly, firms need to understand CPP Investments unique mandate. “The best advice comes from people who really know who we are, what's important to us, and who listen to the questions we're asking.”
Patrice Walch-Watson will be a judge for the 2025 Canadian Law Awards.