WHERE HAS YOUR LAW DEGREE TAKEN YOU? BY ALLISON LAWLOR
CAITLIN REGAN Law is all Caitlin Regan (’14) ever wanted to do. “At age 11, I told my mom I wanted to be a lawyer,” she says. Thirty-one years after her father, Geoff Regan (’83), a long-time MP and former Speaker of the House of Commons, graduated from Dalhousie with his law degree, Regan completed law school and took the next step toward fulfilling her childhood dream.
“I’d always been interested in both fairness and justice and being able to give a remedy to people who had been wronged,” she says. The idea of being a litigator and practicing the art of persuasion excited her. “You could persuade justice to happen by the force of your words.”
Regan was thrilled to act as counsel to the Maritime Link. Completed in 2017, the $1.5-billion project consists of two subsea cables that run 170 km across the Cabot Strait between Cape Ray in Newfoundland and Point Aconi in Nova Scotia with the capacity to carry 500 MW of electricity. Owned by NSP Maritime Link, a subsidiary of Emera Newfoundland and Labrador, the Maritime Link was built to carry electricity generated from the Muskrat Falls hydro project in Labrador into Nova Scotia and onto markets in New England. When she’s not working in the traditionally male-dominated field of construction, she’s doing commercial litigation. “I am somebody who kind of lives my work. It is not a nine-to-five job,” she says.
Despite being part of a close family of influential Nova Scotian politicians, including her mother, Kelly Regan, who serves as the MLA for Bedford and the province’s minister of community She set out to become a Crown prosecutor and became one, but services, she is adamant that politics is not in her future. eventually she was drawn to private practice and construction “The answer is a hard ‘No’,” she says when asked if she plans to law. She is still technically a part-time Crown attorney, but her follow in her family’s political footsteps. private practice now consumes her working days. Overlooking the Halifax Harbour from the offices of the law firm Cox and Palmer, Regan spends a great portion of her time dealing with disputes involving construction projects. She has acted for owners, general contractors, and subcontractors, advising her clients on claims some of which are more than $100 million. “I love construction,” she says with a laugh, never believing she would say those words and mean them.
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H E A R S AY
Mentoring young female lawyers is one of Regan’s passions. At her firm and through the Dalhousie Feminist Legal Association, she is paired with young lawyers and female legal students. She encourages them all to be bold and to not shy away from a stimulating and demanding career in private practice. “One big thing I always tell them: ask for opportunities,” she says. “If you work hard and look for opportunities, you will be able to build a rewarding career.”
