For Wendy Hulton deciding to join Dickinson Wright in Toronto was an easy decision. After 25 years at her former firm, Dickinson Wright offers her access to resources that closely align with her cross-border practice and where the legal industry is heading in the future.
“For me, it made sense to join Dickinson Wright,” says Wendy. “Canada and the U.S. are so closely intertwined these days and the vast majority of my work is now dealing with cross-border issues for my clients.”
Wendy has over 25 years of experience in the area of product regulation. She provides advice on dietary supplements, natural health products, foods, drugs, cosmetics, medical devices and a wide range of consumer products. The nature of Wendy’s practice is regulatory and products, which are right where, law and science meets. Some days, she is helping clients design clinical trials for new products and other days she is helping clients with cross-border product recalls. The variety and flexibility of her schedule is one of her favorite aspects of being a lawyer.
“What I enjoy [about being a lawyer] is the nature of the profession” says Wendy. “Every day gives me an opportunity to assist clients with new challenges …I have to have the ability to let go and be flexible when it comes to schedules and my daily life, which also makes work more interesting since each day is not the same.”
Two of her favorite cases from the past year involve cross-border product recalls and helping a U. S. company open their Canadian operations. The reason being, according to Wendy, is that these cases represent the best of both worlds. She likes the fact that she can see tangible results from her work and in the case of the cross-border product recalls, she enjoyed helping her clients to coordinate the response since U.S. and Canadian recall laws are vastly different.
As part of her practice, Wendy is often called upon to assist clients with the ever increasing complexity of Canada’s federal and provincial privacy legislation. She advises clients on their privacy policies and procedures, requests for disclosure of personal information, surveillance issues and other matters arising under Personal Information and Electronic Documents Act, Access to Information Act and Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL).
Wendy has even written an article about the upcoming changes that will go into force when the CASL takes effect in July 2014. “The Clock is Running – CASL is Coming – Is Your Company Ready For It?” examines what the CASL is and how it will affect not only Canadian companies but American companies that would like to send commercial electronic messages to Canadians. Wendy is preparing her clients for these forthcoming changes as well as assisting her clients with the ever increasing complexity of successfully utilizing social media.
When Wendy is not in the office she loves to travel, which again, lends itself to Dickinson Wright with the firm’s 12 offices in Toronto and the U.S. She is also a devoted hockey mom and loves to play golf with her daughter. But her favorite thing to do at the end of the day she says is “to curl up on the couch with my pug”.
To learn more about Wendy and her practice, please click here.
