General counsel can find themselves with all kinds of functions reporting to them. An unusual example appears at Polaris Industries a $1.6 billion manufacturer of snowmobiles and other products. The law department of Polaris has four lawyers and paralegals in her department. Aside from that, according to a profile of its general counsel in the National Law Journal, June 21, 2010 at 6, a four-member export/import group that is responsible for customs compliance, also reports to the general counsel (See my post of June 11, 2008 #5: export compliance software at GM; Oct. 21, 2009: online decision tree software for import/export; and Aug. 5, 2005: a “pre-law” group.).
As with many other corporate functions, what particular mix is assigned to the top lawyer comes about as a result of many factors: ability, interest, corporate history, views of the CEOs, the talents and experience of others in the C-suite, and more.