Camden Hutchison
What first drew you to business law?
I entered law school without much knowledge of the legal profession, and to be totally honest, I found many of my first-year courses uninspiring. In my second year, I took a number of business-focused courses, which I found much more interesting—particularly in how they related to the broader economic system. I took almost only business courses in my third year, and when I entered practice, I had a very clear sense that I wanted to pursue transactional law. I’ve always had an interest in business and economics, and I like the fact that transactional law is (ideally) non-adversarial—at the end of the day, both parties want to get a deal done, so closing a deal feels like a win-win.
You’ve been involved with the CBL since joining Allard Law in 2017. What are you looking forward to most about serving as Director?
Taking on more of an administrative role will be an exciting challenge. What I’m looking forward to most is meeting more of the Canadian business law community and learning about their interests and concerns. I want to make sure the CBL is producing useful, relevant programming for its constituencies, including both practitioners and students.
Tell us about your vision for the CBL going forward.
My initial concern is continuing the excellent work of my predecessor, Carol Liao, who’s done a tremendous job expanding the CBL’s reach and activity. Beyond that, there are three areas of focus I’d like to pursue. The first is making further inroads into the Vancouver business community itself, including some of Vancouver’s key industries (mining, tech, etc.). The second is increasing the number of practice-focused events for law students in order to give them a better idea of what practice is actually like. Finally, the third is expanding the range of academic talks hosted by the CBL. I think the rise of remote communication technologies like Zoom will help facilitate this last area, allowing us to bring in academics from across Canada and abroad.
What are some of the big issues in business law that you hope the Centre can help shed light on over the next few years?
This is really a grab bag, given the interesting times we live in. Just off the cuff, I’d say the development and application of new information technologies, particularly as they relate to business law, is a major issue. The increasing focus on environmental, social, and governance issues in corporate law is also important, and something the CBL will continue to emphasize. Locally, I think housing supply (e.g., zoning and development regulations) is a business issue that affects almost everyone. Finally, in the shorter term, interest-rate changes and their impact on the deal market is something that’s influenced a lot of lawyers’ practices. Overall, I’d like the CBL to stay on top of changes in the Canadian economy.
How can students, academics, and the broader legal community get involved with the CBL?
Follow us on social media and subscribe to our newsletter to learn about upcoming events! I also encourage anyone who has ideas they’d like to bring to the CBL regarding events, programming, or other activities to get in touch with me directly. The CBL and myself are happy to consider a wide range of proposals, and we’d really like the broader community to get involved.
Published July 2023
