The legal team at Barclays has swollen to 800 lawyers, according to Corp. Counsel, April 2010 at 20, but even as grand as that it feels pinched for resources. When I read that, I rummaged for earlier posts about the huge bank, and found plenty (See my post of April 18, 2005: 37 firms on its panel; April 18, 2005: Mark Harding’s belief that European general counsel were more commonly managing legal risk; Oct. 17, 2005: praised for its technology; Dec. 9, 2005 #1: Chief Operating Officer for 600-strong group; April 18, 2005: lawyers in 17 countries; May 27, 2007: demanded metrics from firms regarding gender and ethnic demographics; Jan. 28, 2008: gave up on rebates because of administrative hassle; and Aug. 11, 2009: litigation partner came aboard as secondee.).
Obviously, Mark Harding’s legal department actively and creatively manages many aspects of its operations. A new step, described in the article by another lawyer, was that in a recent lawsuit “we hired our own temporary paralegals for nine to 12 months.” They worked well, according to the lawyer, with the law firm that represented the bank.