Dominique Hussey speaks with Canadian Lawyer about becoming president of the Advocates’ Society and her career journey as a globally-ranked intellectual property lawyer.

She talks about the Society's recently released report Delay No Longer. The Time to Act Is Now. It urges the federal, provincial, and territorial governments to dedicate resources to the civil and family justice courts, given that delays are “putting us on the pathway to a crisis that will lead to a lack of confidence in the legal system.”

In her life and career, Dominique tells Canadian Lawyer how she influenced by her doctor and lawyer parents and became hooked on intellectual property law in her third year of law school. Her study of classics created a love for words and their meaning and her background in performance has also helped her as a litigator.

Dominique says that some vital skills for lawyers to master are listening to the answers witnesses are giving – and looking for the reaction of the judge or members of the jury. A litigator in intellectual property disputes also must find the proper expert witnesses, which means not only having the specific expertise needed to make a clients’ case but someone who can convey that message “and capture the imagination and trust of the triers of fact.”