Associate General Counsel

Ontario College of Pharmacists; Toronto; On-site; CAD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Ontario College of Pharmacists is seeking an Associate General Counsel to lead a broad legal portfolio, including regulatory, corporate, governance, privacy, and policy matters. The AGC provides professional leadership for the legal conduct function and oversees external counsel while ensuring independence and high standards of fairness.

The role focuses on strategic advice, prosecutions in conduct matters, and cross-functional legal service delivery to support public-interest outcomes.

Qualifications

• Ability to contribute across corporate, regulatory, governance and policy matters.
• Exceptional legal and prosecutorial judgment in complex cases.
• Strong conflict-management and information-barrier discipline.
• Excellent written and oral advocacy.
• Experience with professional regulation acts is an asset.

Responsibilities

• Support the General Counsel across the broader legal portfolio, including non-conduct matters.
• Draft, review and negotiate contracts, procurement documents and vendor agreements.
• Support governance materials, bylaw and policy drafting, and conflict of interest advice.
• Provide advice on privacy, access to information and regulatory developments.
• Retain and oversee external counsel for conduct-stream matters when needed.
• Provide leadership and supervision within Legal Services and conduct-stream teams.

Skills

Versatility across matters

Independent judgment

Leadership

Advocacy skills

Education

JD or LL.B.

Ontario Law Society member

Job description

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. In partnership with the Manager, Legal Conduct, the AGC ensures prosecution work reflects the highest standards of fairness, consistency, independence and professional judgment, while providing direction on complex and high-impact matters.

What you’ll do at OCP

General Legal Services Support (Non-Conduct)

• 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.
• Accept no non-conduct assignment that concerns an identifiable matter within, or reasonably anticipated to enter, the conduct stream, other than through the AGC’s conduct-stream role itself, and raise for screening any assignment that may do so.
• 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. Day-to-day supervision, direction and prosecutorial decision-making on files rests with the Manager Legal Conduct; the AGC provides input, direction and sign-off on complex, novel, precedent-setting or high-consequence matters elevated by the Manager Legal Conduct, and serves as a sounding board on significant decisions.
• 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, and ensure prosecutions are conducted in accordance with the law, the rules of professional conduct, procedural fairness and the College’s public-interest mandate.
• Develop, maintain and apply policies directing the exercise of prosecutorial discretion — including charging and referral-related practices, disclosure, resolution and litigation conduct — and set professional standards, quality expectations and consistency across counsel and files.
• Monitor legal developments affecting professional discipline, accreditation proceedings and administrative prosecution practice, and contribute file-informed, aggregate-level insight to systemic and policy work led by the GC, without disclosing file-level information beyond what such work lawfully requires.
• Retain, instruct and oversee external counsel engaged for conduct-stream matters, directly or through the Manager Legal Conduct, and ensure quality, value and accountability in their use.
• Appear, or assign counsel to appear, before statutory committees, courts and reviewing bodies in conduct-stream matters, including appeals and judicial reviews arising from them.
• Provide or facilitate legal advice to the Inquiries, Complaints and Reports Committee, including on referral decisions; to the Registrar on referrals and on accreditation proposals; and to the Accreditation Committee on any matter that is or may become the subject of a referral.
• Ensure conduct-stream advice is delivered by counsel appropriately screened from any conflicting role, engaging external counsel where independence, capacity or specialization requires.
• advice to the Quality Assurance Committee on whether to make a disclosure or referral to the Inquiries, Complaints and Reports Committee is outside the AGC’s function and is provided by external counsel independent of the GC, the AGC and Legal Conduct generally where required, reflecting the statutory protections attaching to quality assurance information.
• Maintain the operational and informational separation of the legal conduct function from the Hearings Office and adjudicative operations, including compliance with documented information protocols.
• Provide no legal advice to adjudicative panels or adjudicators in any circumstance, and take no role in the selection, instruction or retainer administration of independent legal counsel who advise panels.
• Escalate to the GC only the categorical matters permitted under the “Legal Conduct and Adjudicative Operations Separation Charter”, and decline direction on file-specific strategy, resolution positions, counsel assignments or penalty from any person outside the legal conduct function, and engage the Registrar & CEO, through or with the General Counsel as the Separation Charter provides, on institutional risks that transcend any individual file.
• Identify, document and manage actual or perceived conflicts of interest affecting the conduct stream, and maintain screening practices governing the AGC’s non-conduct support work.

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, and create the conditions for high performance, sound judgement, independence, accountability and public-interest decision-making.
• 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, ensuring appropriate succession planning and capability development.
• Establish annual conduct-stream goals, workplans, resource requirements, budgets and performance measures, assessed on process and stewardship measures including timeliness, disclosure compliance, budget management and professional standards.
• Ensure material legal, operational and conflict risks within the conduct stream are identified, documented and escalated appropriately within the categorical escalation framework.

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.
• Demonstrated ability to exercise independent discretion while remaining accountable on process and stewardship measures.
• Strong conflict-identification, conflict-management and role-boundary judgment, including disciplined compliance with information barriers.
• 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

Education

• Juris Doctor (JD) or Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) degree.
• Member in good standing with the Law Society of Ontario.
• Specialized training or education in administrative law, professional regulation, prosecution practice or litigation is considered an asset.

Work Experience

• 10+ years of progressively senior legal experience across a broad portfolio — corporate, commercial, regulatory and administrative —, including substantial litigation, prosecution or contested administrative proceedings experience.
• Breadth of experience across corporate and commercial matters, contracts, governance, privacy and policy work, preferably in a regulated or public-sector environment.
• Significant experience conducting or supervising proceedings before administrative tribunals, discipline committees or courts, preferably in a professional regulation or comparable public-interest context.
• Demonstrated experience exercising or supervising the exercise of prosecutorial or comparable independent discretion, including disclosure obligations and resolution decisions.
• Experience leading, supervising and developing legal professionals and support staff.
• Significant knowledge of professional regulation, administrative law, procedural fairness and statutory interpretation, preferably including the Regulated Health Professions Act, 1991 and the Drug and Pharmacies Regulation Act.
• Demonstrated experience operating within, or maintaining, role boundaries, screens or safeguards where independence and conflict management are critical.
• Experience advising statutory committees, boards or senior decision-makers is a strong asset.

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. In addition to ascertaining all registrants meet professional standards, the College sets and ensures ongoing adherence to professional and operational standards as it leads the advancement of pharmacy.

AI Disclosure

At Ontario College of Pharmacists, we value transparency and fairness in recruitment. While our system (ADP Workforce Now) 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. Applicants need to make their requirements known when contacted.