Steve Smyth is recognized as a collegial, experienced legal counsel with demonstrated success working in midstream oil and gas, infrastructure, construction, and transportation industries.
In Steve’s first career, he applied his strong business acumen and entrepreneurial spirit to the banking industry, working with small business owners. It was a limiting, risk-averse environment, and eventually, not where he wanted to be. His growing ambition led him to consider other career options, specifically law.
After being called to the bar, Steve worked as a Litigation Associate at Burnet, Duckworth & Palmer LLC, a larger regional firm in Calgary. He articled in 2008–2009, starting in the firm’s litigation rotation. When it came time to move to the solicitor side, the economic conditions at the time provided limited exposure to transactional work. The litigation files followed him throughout his articles. This advanced him to litigation associate with the firm, focusing on commercial litigation, construction, employment, and OHS.
Steve took his first in-house job in 2012 at Tervita Corporation (now Secure Energy). This provided an opportunity to dive further into occupational health and safety, employment, and regulatory and corporate compliance matters.
After three years in-house, he began to wonder what career advancement would look like. “I was once asked what the ideal work environment for me was — and I immediately said, ‘A situation with half the work on the legal side and half on the business side of things,’” he recalls. He readily admits he had not planned how to achieve that goal.
Looking for ways to advance deeper into the business role, Steve considered an MBA. As a young father with three children, the timing was not right for such a commitment. Fortunately for him, Rob Van Walleghem, KC, CIC.C, was the General Counsel at Tervita at that time. Rob had consulted on the formation of the Business Leadership Program for In-House Counsel at the Rotman School of Management, and was part of the first trial cohort. He encouraged Steve to take the program as well, which Steve did in 2015.
“I’ve taken courses where you learn a little nugget here or there, or the content is simply over your head. But the Business Leadership Program is so engaging and strikes the right balance between law and business,” he explains. “I was recently presenting at our leadership summit in Banff, and I honestly still use the principles I learned in the program to this day, which is about 10 years later.”
In 2021, the Trotter & Morton Group of Companies was looking to hire in-house counsel with legal and business acumen to be able to assist with non-operational corporate matters. Thanks to the program, Steve felt well-placed to pursue this opportunity: “I knew I had a distinct advantage over other applicants without the CIC. C designation.”
He got the job, also crediting this success to the people he met through both the program and the CCCA. “What I didn’t know was that someone connected to Trotter and Morton had reached out to a lawyer that they knew to ask about some of the shortlisted candidates. What a feather in my cap it was that I had met and worked closely with this lawyer through the CCCA.”
“Connections you make with other lawyers are so important when you are looking to advance your career or change roles,” he continues. “If you are looking to advance your career, knowing lawyers in other organizations is incredibly valuable. It can make your name rise to the top through a stack of resumes.”
Steve has since been promoted to the role of Vice President of Corporate Development and General Counsel. This marked the achievement of a decade-long goal of getting a blended role of law and business. Reflecting on this, Steve says, “I’m not sure if I reached this goal without the skills learned in that program.”
As for his involvement with the CCCA, including as past president, Steve says, “The real value in CCCA membership is the relationships you develop and access, for general questions or industry-specific intel. That is the big upside. In-house counsel tend to be isolated, and the people you know in other organizations make you invaluable in your hybrid role as a business leader and counsel.”
At the national and local level, Steve continues to connect with lawyers across the country, including new members looking for career and networking advice. A baseball aficionado, he can also be seen wearing a deep purple colour as President of the SBR Rockies Softball (Fast pitch) Association in Calgary, where he helps lead that organization and coaches multiple teams