Associate General Counsel in Toronto

Reporting to the General Counsel & Chief Privacy Officer, the Associate General Counsel is a senior legal leadership role with a broad and influential mandate. The AGC provides strategic advice across OCP’s legal portfolio, including regulatory, corporate and commercial, governance, privacy, litigation, policy and other complex legal matters. The role also provides professional and prosecutorial leadership for OCP’s legal conduct function.

What you’ll do at OCP:

• Support the GC, as assigned and under the GC’s direction, across the broader legal portfolio, including corporate and commercial, regulatory, statutory interpretation, contract, governance, privacy, policy and other non-conduct legal matters as assigned.
• Draft, review and negotiate contracts, procurement documents and vendor agreements across the College’s operations.
• Support governance work, including Board and committee materials, bylaw and policy drafting, motions and terms of reference, and conflict of interest advice.
• Prepare legal opinions and interpretation memoranda on the Regulated Health Professions Act, 1991, the Pharmacy Act, the Drug and Pharmacies Regulation Act and related legislation, and monitor legislative and regulatory developments affecting the College.
• Support the College’s privacy and access to information program under the Chief Privacy Officer’s direction, including privacy advice, privacy impact assessments and breach response.
• Assist in managing civil litigation, judicial reviews and other proceedings outside the conduct stream, including instructing and overseeing external counsel.
• Provide legal support on employment, labour and workplace matters, as required and assigned by the GC, subject to applicable screening practices.
• Contribute to enterprise legal risk management, compliance frameworks, delegations of authority, and legal records and information practices.
• Act as the GC’s delegate during absences or as otherwise designated, except in respect of the Hearings Office and adjudicative operations, which remain outside the AGC’s role at all times.
• Provide overflow, project and coverage capacity across the legal portfolio in a manner consistent with the independence of the conduct role and applicable screening practices.
• Contribute to knowledge sharing, precedent development, legal service delivery improvement and cross-functional initiatives across Legal Services.

Legal Conduct Oversight & Prosecutorial Accountability:

• Hold overall professional and prosecutorial accountability for the legal conduct function.
• Provide strategic oversight of proceedings before the Discipline and Fitness to Practise Committees under the Regulated Health Professions Act, 1991 and the Accreditation Committee under the Drug and Pharmacies Regulation Act.
• Develop, maintain and apply policies directing the exercise of prosecutorial discretion.
• Monitor legal developments affecting professional discipline, accreditation proceedings and administrative prosecution practice.
• Retain, instruct and oversee external counsel engaged for conduct-stream matters.
• Provide or facilitate legal advice to the Inquiries, Complaints and Reports Committee.
• Maintain the operational and informational separation of the legal conduct function from the Hearings Office and adjudicative operations.
• Identify, document and manage actual or perceived conflicts of interest affecting the conduct stream.

People & Operational Leadership:

• Provide leadership, direction, coaching, performance management and professional development to the Manager, Legal Conduct and to conduct-stream counsel, clerks and support staff.
• Manage departmental budgets and resources, ensuring effective and efficient use of financial and human resources.
• Foster a culture of collaboration, innovation, accountability, continuous learning, and service excellence.
• Recruit, develop, retain, and support high-performing employees.
• Establish annual conduct-stream goals, workplans, resource requirements, budgets and performance measures.
• Ensure material legal, operational and conflict risks within the conduct stream are identified, documented and escalated appropriately.

What we’re looking for:

• Versatility to contribute effectively across corporate, commercial, regulatory, governance, privacy and policy matters outside the conduct stream.
• Exceptional legal and prosecutorial judgment and the ability to make and defend independent, principled decisions in complex or sensitive circumstances.
• Deep knowledge of professional discipline, administrative prosecution practice, procedural fairness, disclosure obligations and tribunal advocacy.
• Strong conflict-identification, conflict-management and role-boundary judgment.
• Ability to lead and develop professional teams, set standards and maintain quality and consistency across a high-volume litigation practice.
• Excellent written, verbal, advocacy, negotiation and presentation skills.
• High degree of integrity, discretion, professionalism and commitment to equity, accessibility, inclusion and public service.

What experience we prefer:

• Juris Doctor (JD) or Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) degree.
• Member in good standing with the Law Society of Ontario.
• 10+ years of progressively senior legal experience across a broad portfolio.
• Breadth of experience across corporate and commercial matters, contracts, governance, privacy and policy work.
• Significant experience conducting or supervising proceedings before administrative tribunals, discipline committees or courts.
• Demonstrated experience exercising or supervising the exercise of prosecutorial or comparable independent discretion.
• Experience leading, supervising and developing legal professionals and support staff.
• Significant knowledge of professional regulation, administrative law, procedural fairness and statutory interpretation.

Why work for us?

We are the registering and regulating body for the profession of pharmacy practice in Ontario with a mandate to serve and protect the public interest.

AI Disclosure: At Ontario College of Pharmacists, we value transparency and fairness in recruitment. While our system includes AI-powered features, we do not use AI to screen, assess, or select applicants. All evaluations are conducted by people.

OCP is committed to supporting accessibility and diversity. Requests for accommodations can be made at any stage of the recruitment process.