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Enron Mail |
Looks like a good candidate. I am around all next week.
Regards, Mark Peter Keohane 04/20/2001 03:45 PM To: Mark E Haedicke/HOU/ECT@ECT cc: Janette Elbertson/HOU/ECT@ECT, Sharon Crawford/CAL/ECT@ECT Subject: New Canadian Lawyer Janette - Can you call Sharon to co-ordinate 5-10 minutes when Mark is available to discuss the attached. Mark - I want to discuss with you a candidate, with the following background information. Sorry for the long memo but it might make our discussion more efficient. I wanted to see if I could recruit someone with 4-6 years major law firm experience and whom I knew or could confirm by my contacts as having a reputation as a quality lawyer and person with broad corporate and commercial experience. Perhaps I am getting too far removed from that level, but I was able to come up with only one candidate that I think is worthy of pursuing. If he proves unsatisfactory, I will then have to go to an out-placement/recruitment agency, which is relatively expensive. That said the candidate I am suggesting would to my mind be as good or better than any candidate that we may find through a formal recruitment process. His name is Derek Flaman. I will send his resume to you by fax. A couple of points: Strengths: (a) Derek comes from the Donahue Ernst and Young firm and to my knowledge is a highly regarded commercial associate. (b) Prior to that he was at Macleod Dixon and a highly regarded commercial associate there. The Managing Partner of Donahue Ernst and Young Calgary came from Macleod Dixon Calgary and brought Derek over with him. © Derek has never done any work for us, but I have met him socially a number of times and have spoken to him about this job possibility. I think he has a down-to-earth and comfortable personality that would suit the atmosphere and stresses of Enron well. (d) Derek was seconded internally to Husky Oil - one of DEY's major Calgary clients - for a period and has experince in-house. He worked for an internal lawyer at Husky who is a friend of Greg Johnston and who gave excellent reviews. (e) Although I do not have his law school grades, he tells me he finished in the top third of his class at Queens University - which among the reputable schools in Canada. (f) He is qualified both under Alberta and Ontario law. (g) He has met with Milnthorp and Greg Johnston, both of whom were favorably impressed. Issues: (a) Derek graduated from law school in '94 and since that time his career has been a bit traveled. Although there is an explanation, his continuous experience at Macleod Dixon and Donahue Ernst and Young started in '97. Before that the history is he is from a small town in Alberta. After graduating he wanted to work at a small firm in Toronto and had an interest in labor law, and spent his first year articling to a Toronto labor boutique. After that year he wanted to get into commercial work and out Toronto, and moved to Fraser Milner in Edmonton. His wife then took a position at Stikeman Elliott in Calgary however, and so he moved to Macleod Dixon in Calgary. He moved to Donahue Ernst and Young when they established their office in Calgary. All things being considered, I am comfortable with his experience at say a 4 to 5 year level - although compensation could then be an issue (I have not discussed compensation with him). (b) Derek's experience has been primarily in large commercial projects, especially the off-shore oil and gas developments in Hibernia and Terra Nova for Husky. This would require some very good legal and large project organizational skills but is obviously different from a faster paced, commercially oriented, higher volume trading atmosphere. In his secondment to Husky however he was more involved in their retail gasoline business and natural gas marketing and, although I am sure not the atmosphere at Enron, he tells me it is an atmosphere he is comfortable with and enjoys. © Do Jim Derrick's accounting/law firm concerns apply to hiring a lawyer (as opposed to retaining counse)? I would like to get back to Derek soon to discuss next steps (interview in Houston? with whom? Vicki Sharp? get a feel for compensation expectations?), or look to other alternatives. Peter.
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