Training Courses for International Legal Departments

Diane Rodgers, Vice President and Managing Counsel, Assurant Solutions, Canada

Managing an International Legal team spread out across various regions, countries and time zones comes with a unique set of challenges. How can a manager inspire the team to a common vision? How can management control legal risk over multiple jurisdictions? Can there ever be common standards given the diversity? Is it possible to have a close cohesive team across borders and time zones? An integral part of answering these questions in the affirmative is a strong departmental training program that includes on boarding, a continuous rotation of refresher training, site specific training, department wide training, business training and legal training. This article aims to serve as a guide for the International Legal Department manager to building a strong learning and development program in order to reap the benefits of team building and forging strong relationships between remote sites and their head offices.

Diane Rodgers is Vice President and Managing Counsel at Assurant Solutions - a specialty provider of niche insurance products doing business in 13 countries worldwide. Diane leads the International Legal Department at Assurant Solutions, managing Legal affairs in markets in Canada, Europe, Latin America and Asia.

Assurant Inc. is a Fortune 500 company headquartered in New York City with roughly $25 billion in assets, $7 billion in annual revenue and 13,000 world wide employees. Through its various business units, Assurant is a premier provider of specialized insurance products and related services in North America and selected international markets.