The merged legal department of Bank of America and Merrill Lynch, with a combined team of around 700, is in the midst of slimming down. According to Corp. Counsel, Vol. 16, April 2009 at 66, last December the legal staff had to “reapply for their jobs.” Perhaps this is a…
An article describes a practice at HCL Technologies, an Indian IT services company, whereby the company collects immediate comments by employees. As portrayed by MIT Sloan Mgt. Rev., Vol. 50, Winter 2009 at 46, employees can fill out “service tickets” any time they have a concern – “about the work…
A law department of nearly 100 lawyers that I have worked with introduced an interesting concept to me: “role sizing.” Since I know nothing more than that fact, let me speculate what role sizing entails. To role size might be to match the presumed scope of responsibility and expertise of…
Grant general counsel legal knowledge and judgment. Grant them the ability to manage up and across their peers. What about managing down? Even if a general counsel avoids managerial ineptitude, some shortcomings in leading members of a law department are common, including the six below. I have listed them in…
As we blame parents for many misdeeds and misfortunes of their children, so too we blame managers for many shortcomings and grievances of their employees. General counsel, in loco parentis, face similar complaints, most deservedly if they themselves behave badly (See my post of April 23, 2008: bad behavior by…
A profile of Gloria Santona, McDonald’s general counsel, includes a number of methods by which she creates a unified culture among the approximately 140 lawyers dispersed across 19 or 20 locations all over the world. One is that “the entire legal team participates in a global legal conference.” Another is…
Among her many claims to fame, Gloria Santona, the general counsel of McDonald’s, sits on the board of directors of Aon Corporation, a leading provider of risk management services, insurance and reinsurance brokerage and human capital and management consulting. Not only is Santona a board member, she serves on its…
Pacific Business publishes Asian-Counsel, which published the results of a survey in the summer of 2008. One question asked in the survey was “What is the most common way your company locates and hires its in-house lawyers?” The respondents (an unreported number) came from Asia and the Middle East. One…
Here and there, law departments bring in interns from local law schools, either during the summer or term-time. Among the 75 cost-cutting ideas in the ACC Docket, Vol. 27, March 2009 at 45, is to evaluate whether it is cost effective to hire a third-year law student as an intern…
What gets measured gets manipulated. Clever people always figure out ways to make the most of reward goals or decision-making. If money in a law department depends on metrics, there will be efforts to spin and manipulate the numbers. People will game the system, if you want to put it…