On the road again

I spent the better part of this week up North (by Washington, DC standards) at meetings with ACC members and potential members in Calgary and Vancouver.

We can talk about the legal side of things later, but the one thing that struck me was how civilized things are here. Calgary has metal sidewalks grates just like DC, but there were large metal foot-shaped panels welded on the grates so that if your heels would not slip through. In both places the taxis were clean, the drivers wore suits, and the driving was courteous. I noticed more little niceties like this as the week went on.

The ACC members I met were nice, as well, but many were concerned that their companies had been or might be bought out by US based companies. I heard how one US buyer immediately started to impose a US culture on one legal department of a company that was doing just fine before the buyout.

As ACC membership grows in Canada, we will be working to make sure we meet member needs up here while honoring the local culture, but we also could learn something from that culture for operations elsewhere.