MetLife has published a handsome Annual Review 2007, which includes in its 33 pages one on its Legal Affairs group. Every activity described in the section marks a contribution by Legal Affairs of “critical support and guidance that enhanced MetLife’s corporate structure and investments, delivered innovative products to the market,…
An article from IP Law & Bus., Vol. 6, Sept. 2008 at 41, extols the changes the chief legal officer of LexisNexis, Kenneth Thompson, instituted after he took over in 2005. The division of Reed Elsevier soon “had a patent review board, an incentive program that rewards employees for inventions,…
Just as no consensus has been reached about all the proper roles of a company, we have no final conclusion on the proper role of a law department. Roles expected of corporations include to maximize profit (law departments are expected to minimize costs), increase market share (law departments should serve…
According to data collected in early 2007 from 84 multinational companies, the general counsel was almost as likely not to attend Board meetings at all as to attend any. Three-quarters of the respondents were from companies with headquarters in Northern Europe or the UK and Ireland and the results come…
A brainchild of Brackett Denniston, the General Counsel of General Electric, is the so-called early-dispute-resolution program. According to Corp. Bd. Mbr., Vol. 11, July/Aug. 2008 at 76, “it has saved GE hundreds of millions of dollars in just three years — a figure that will grow to ‘billions saved, ultimately’”.…
A profile of the group general counsel of BAE Systems, Philip Bramwell, explains parts of his three-year plan to restructure the defense and aerospace giant’s 120-lawyer department. The piece appears in Legal Week, July 31, 2008 and praises the initiatives he has started. What caught in my throat was an…
In the briefest of mentions, the general counsel of Belgium-based InBev notes that her company has a three-year business plan and a “corresponding three-year plan for the legal function.” The huge gulp of Budweiser undoubtedly upended that law department’s plan! In any event, the item from ACC Docket, Vol. 25,…
The NY Times, July 8, 2008, at C3, published a photo of InBev’s chief executive striding through the US Senate surrounded by a bevy of reporters. Prominently in the shot, looking determined with her briefcase is Sabine Chalmers, the general counsel of InBev, who is striding four steps ahead of…
A special supplement to the Fin. Times, June 9, 2006 at 5, delves into the views of CFOs on risk management. The two professors who wrote the piece had asked 334 CFOs “What fraction of your company’s value would you attribute to the finance function?” The average estimate was 10…
An article in the Harv. Bus. Rev., Vol. 85, June 2008 at 132-3, recommends five principles for companies that wish to fend off patent trolls (See my posts of Jan. 20, 2006: trolls and litigation costs; Oct. 29, 2006: Qualcomm’s business model; May 13, 2007: Microsoft’s patent litigation against trolls;…