The Saskatchewan Medical Association (SMA) has hired Saskatoon lawyer Reché McKeague, K.C. as its first in-house legal counsel.

“This is a new position and an exciting opportunity to review SMA policies and procedures through a legal lens,” said McKeague, who joins the SMA’s senior leadership team.

“I do not provide advice to individual SMA members,” she added. “Rather, as SMA legal counsel I advise the association in areas such as administrative, employment, and privacy law. I will also identify opportunities for improvement, develop work and process standards, manage compliance, and limit risk exposure of the SMA.”

McKeague graduated from the University of Saskatchewan College of Law in 2005. She was awarded the K.C. designation in 2021. She worked in the City of Saskatoon’s Solicitor’s Office from 2018-22, where she drafted bylaws, and worked in labour and employment, and privacy and access to information. During the pandemic she provided legal advice to the City of Saskatoon’s Emergency Coordination Centre.

She is past-president of the Canadian Bar Association, Saskatchewan branch, and is designate complaints counsel for the Law Society of Saskatchewan.

A self-professed “law nerd,” she looks forward to her many and varied duties at the SMA. In addition to providing her legal expertise to the SMA, she has been involved in the SMA’s recent review of SMA governance structure and practices. She is the SMA’s privacy officer and educates staff on issues related to privacy and access to information.

“Much like a physician is called to medicine, I have been called to law,” McKeague said. “It is my passion. I look forward to serving the SMA, and through the SMA the physicians of Saskatchewan, as I embark on this new path in my career.”