Cineplex Legal Counsel
Another important role for the in-house legal team was to act as a sounding board for their litigation partners at Goodmans. Paris and Cineplex`s legal director, Anne Fitzgerald, are former litigators, which gave them the great advantage of having two additional litigators on file, Paris says. With Fitzgerald at the helm, Cineplex sued Cineworld for $1.2 billion. After a two-week trial and several months of deliberation by the judge, the court ruled in favor of Cineplex. Ms. Fitzgerald, now retired, Chief Legal Officer and General Counsel of film giant Cineplex Inc., was named General Counsel of the Year at the CACL Gala at the Royal York Hotel in Toronto this month, in part for her role in Cineplex`s lawsuit against its former plaintiff, Cineworld Group PLC. With the support of the entire company and a strong team at Goodmans LLP, the legal department collected huge amounts of documents for discovery as quickly as possible to ensure that the trial date was not postponed. Connecting external consultants with the right resources was an important task for Paris and her team. “We really want to give practical advice in a timely manner, and we remember that just because we can do something legally doesn`t mean we have to do it,” Says Santram. Like many lawyers, Thomas Santram began his career in private practice where he worked commercially for 14 years, but he always had an interest in taking on an internal role.
With a background in film school and a love of the film industry, Santram was drawn to a role in Cineplex`s legal department. He joined the team as Legal Counsel and Chief Privacy Officer in 2008 and has gradually grown in importance, most recently celebrating a promotion to Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary in March 2022. For Santram, preparing for the appointment of the Cineplex Court of Appeal in October is the top priority this year. Cineplex was awarded nearly $1.24 billion in damages last December when British film giant Cineworld pulled out of a deal to buy the Canadian company. After Cineworld appealed the decision, Cineplex responded with a cross-appeal. The Santram team is working closely with Goodmans` external consulting partners to prepare for the appointment. In other words, Wednesday`s motion arrived in the Southern District of Texas before U.S. bankruptcy judge Marvin Isgur, kirkland & Ellis serving as bankruptcy general counsel alongside co-attorney Jackson Walker. “By January, I think we`ll be back to our normal routine of mandatory legal education for everyone in the ministry, but I wanted to give everyone time to breathe after two and a half years of COVID,” Santram said. Santram refers to its 10-person legal department as “the radius in the center of the wheel” because they touch all other departments and subsidiaries in their work. Santram`s philosophy is to help the company achieve its goals, taking into account all data protection regulations, competition rules and contract provisions. “As an in-house legal advisor, you will always know your organization better.
If you know you need accounting data, the in-house lawyer knows who to talk to in accounting to get the data, and who may need to see or review that information,” Paris explains. Cineplex`s legal department played a critical role in leading the entertainment giant to victory in this complex litigation, which lasted just over a year due to an accelerated timeline to meet the trial date. He was hired in 2004 by the Canadian entertainment company on a one-year contract to oversee the acquisition of the Famous Players movie chain. She didn`t expect to stay nearly 20 years managing everything from acquisitions to building the company`s legal department. So that meant undergoing a legal makeover. She decided to work as an in-house lawyer in a large company in the entertainment industry. She reduced it to eight companies, then knocked on doors and was hired by Cineplex as an external consultant in 2004 after meeting with its CEO, Ellis Jacob, and COO Dan McGrath. She joined the team in 2005 as Full-time Vice-President and Legal Counsel. “It was really important for us to make sure everything was routed efficiently to external consultants, because the timelines were so short that any delay could lead to a negative outcome,” says Michael Paris, Managing Director, General Counsel and Chief Privacy Officer at Cineplex. “We really wanted to meet that test deadline, so it was our job to keep our feet in the fire to make sure we met that date. “If lawyers had hired me at Cineplex, I don`t think I would have gotten the job,” Fitzgerald said, noting that her resume at the time was thin in terms of entrepreneurial and business experience. “But you find out.
That is what we are doing. It`s not magic. I had experts as external consultants and learned a lot in the early years. I lowered my head and worked incredibly hard to learn Canadian commercial law and Canadian securities law. “What I`ve found in this new role is that I really need to be a little disconnected from everyday life, to have a broader perspective and look at the company as a whole, rather than focusing on moving things to my desk as much as before,” says Santram. In addition to managing all of the company`s legal needs, including competition law, and negotiating contracts, Santram now deals directly with securities law and the board of directors while moving into governance matters. Not bad for a transplanted American who made legal bones in the early 1990s when she persecuted and defended murderers while working as a criminal defense attorney in the United States after graduating from Duke University Law School. “The truth was that there are not enough interesting crimes here, which is a blessing.
I have tried several murder cases and most Crown lawyers in Canada will try very few in their entire careers. It just wasn`t that interesting to me. After retiring as Chief Legal Officer at Cineplex, she spent 11 days snowshoeing on a 150-kilometre route through the Arctic Circle on Baffin Island in Canada. In the first half of the trip, storm winds blew as she walked through the snow and ice. On the sixth day, the wind stopped. Fitzgerald basked in the silence that followed and found the special wisdom that comes with perseverance. Fitzgerald is particularly proud that the OBC funds participants who would otherwise not be able to pay. She says 80% of participants are at least partially funded. “The fact that we`re able to offer this experience to kids who may never have had a chance to go out before is so nice,” she says. “I firmly believe that life begins outside of one`s comfort zone and this is exactly the new perspective that the OBC offers to participants.” Fitzgerald recently became CEO of Outward Bound, an organization that cares about his hiking heart. “I live for nature,” she says, noting that she recently hiked through Baffin Island. “I`m going to hike everywhere and everywhere.” If the lawyers had hired me at Cineplex, I don`t think I would have gotten the job And I`m sure it`s not a surprise, but the fabulous Tom Santram will take over as general counsel at Cineplex.
Cineplex is obviously in good hands!! I agreed to consult for a while, but I can`t imagine that I would actually be needed. The team I leave behind is exceptional. After huge losses due to prolonged closures during the pandemic, Cineplex is slowly recovering and Santram expects the company to continue to grow next year as films slow to release and people return to theaters. When the pandemic hit, local health measures forced all Cineplex cinemas to close, some for nearly a year. Fitzgerald`s team has faced restructuring, refinancing and negotiating leases with each owner the company works with. Santram helps Cineplex prepare for court of appeal after Cineworld`s victory “Managing operations during a pandemic has given me a whole new skill, one that I hope I never have to use again,” Fitzgerald says.