OBITER DICTA STAFF
Various Contributors
Jaime Watt, the founder and Executive Chairman of Navigator Ltd., and a panelist on CBC’s The Insiders, spoke in Neil Finkelstein and Ron Podolny’s Assessment of Litigation and Regulatory Risk seminar. Mr. Watt specializes in complex public strategy issues, serving both domestic and international clients in the corporate, professional services, not-for-profit, and government sectors.
Mr. Watt, who describes his work as located at “the intersection of law and public affairs,” and of “law and strategy,” spoke on the importance of understanding the government relations and public affairs environment, in addition to the purely legal issues at hand when prosecuting high profile litigation cases or commercial transactions. According to Mr. Watt, “politics are affecting capital markets to the extent they never have before.” Accordingly, an understanding of the political and media environment is now a prerequisite for a successful career in corporate law.
Mr. Watt’s talk turned to the particularities of assisting clients in today’s political environment. He highlighted the structural changes that have occurred since the Conservative government came to power, and in particular the introduction of the Federal Accountability Act, as well as the campaign finance reform efforts.
Mr. Watt also noted that all governments now operate in the age of a “permanent campaign” due to the 24-hour news cycle and the pervasiveness of social media. While social media does not frequently move votes, and represents more of an “echo chamber,” it does push a rush to judgment by the public and a rush to air by journalists. Accordingly, advice on government and public relations is part of the factual matrix counsel must consider in advising on high profile transactions.
Mr. Watt then illustrated these principles with reflections on some of Canada’s biggest stories at the intersection of business and government relations; in particular, the CNOOC-Nexen Inc. deal. The deal, in addition to its financial complexity, raised important public affairs issues due to the involvement of a corporate entity owned by the Chinese government. The deal pitted the various motivations of the federal and provincial government, such as the importance of encouraging foreign investment in Canada’s resources sector, the importance of increasing revenues necessary to upgrade Canada’s aging infrastructure and the importance of upholding Canadian values and human rights abroad, against one another. The outcome of the transaction illustrates the importance of a public affairs and government relations strategy in addition to a purely legal strategy in executing international transactions of this magnitude.
Mr. Watt concluded his lecture with reflections on the recent Alberta provincial election, and the limitations of online and telephone polling. In Mr. Watt’s opinion, there is no substitute for the careful, qualitative analysis of public opinion. Only advisors that understand the “wisdom of the taxi driver,” in its non-partisan complexity, can understand the motivations and predict the decisions of elected officials that shape the corporate transactions they lead.