An example from risk management of how easy it is to urge impossible tasks

When authors prescribe what should be done, they can get carried away. An example comes from the Int’l In-House Counsel J., Vol 2, Autumn 2009 at 1408, where the author discusses in-house counsel and risk management.

“The in-house legal counsels should periodically perform an overall assessment of all legal risks impacting the business operations, and report to the general counsel on the status of these risks and actions to control them.”

Easy to write but give us a break! Only in the Elysian fields of legal practice would anyone even contemplate such a comprehensive – in fact, unachievable – objective. Assess all legal risks and control them. Right.