In this conversation, we speak about the growing (pun intended) world of agricultural law, with KJ Chong, legal counsel from BroadGrain Commodities.
Topics: food exporting and safety during COVID; the one-page agreement for the agricultural sector; new grain declarations in NAFTA 2.0 and our Ask-Me-Anything segment.
Full Episode (57:32) Download
⚫ How has COVID changed the food safety rules for companies that are shipping and receiving food products? (7:49)
⚫ How are agricultural lawyers able to draft complex legal agreements in just one page? (18:21)
⚫ How is the new NAFTA impacting the way that grain traders verify the quality of their own products? (27:35)
⚫ Our new Ask-Me-Anything segment, featuring five questions submitted by patrons of the Lawyered community (37:02):
? What are some of the unexpected elements about working in the agricultural law space? (37:44)
? What role does trust play when trading and interacting with the farming community? (39:23)
? What role do politics and trade patterns have on a lawyer’s day-to-day work? (40:55)
? How can in-house legal counsel deal with under-resourced departments? (44:44)
? How can the food service industry bounce back post-COVID? (50:10)
1. Exporting Food During a Pandemic (13:44) Download
2. Drafting the One-Page Agreement (12:30) Download
– Grain and Feed Trade Association (GAFTA) Contracts
3. Declarations of Eligibility: Grain Farming in the New NAFTA (12:38) Download
– Bill C-4: Canada–United States–Mexico Agreement Implementation Act
4. Ask-Me-Anything: Agricultural Lawyer (20:15) Download
- What are some of the unexpected elements about working in the agricultural law space?
- What role does trust play when trading and interacting with the farming community?
- What role do politics and trade patterns have on a lawyer’s day-to-day work?
- How can in-house legal counsel deal with under-resourced departments?
- How can the food service industry bounce back post-COVID?
About the Guest:
KJ (Ke-Jia) Chong is legal counsel at BroadGrain Commodities Inc., a Canadian-based international grain trading company in the agricultural industry. As the company’s sole legal counsel, she advises on all aspects of BroadGrain, including contract drafting, financing, litigation and dispute resolution, regulatory issues, employment law, and the management of international subsidiaries. She works closely with C-suite executives to mitigate risk. KJ articled in corporate and litigation rotations at a national Bay street law firm, worked in private practice in litigation before moving in-house, and is called to both the Ontario and New York bar. KJ was also the Chair of the Canadian Corporate Counsel (CCCA) Ontario section for 2019-2020 and has been recently elected to be a Member-at-Large on the national CCCA executive committee 2020-2021.