Law Department Management Blog
In the Nat’l L.J., Vol. 29, Jan. 8, 2007 at 8, there is a profile of Matthew Fawcett, the general counsel of JDS Uniphase Corp. Fawcett describes how his time is distributed: “25% is devoted to management, 20% to corporate matters, 15% to intellectual property, 15% commercial concerns, another 15% to mergers and acquisitions and material deal issues, and 10% to ‘potpourri’.”
I presume that “management” has to do with running the law department, which comprises 30 lawyers and professionals in four countries. Maybe not, however. Most general counsel might describe a similar breakout, with some having less on intellectual property and others having a category for “participation as a member of executive management” and “board and senior executive advice” (See my post of Aug. 28, 2005 on the role and term “consiglieri.”). Possibly Fawcett includes this facet of a general counsel’s role in “management,” but then when does he lead and manage the law department?