In-House Counsel

Every now and then we learn of a law department that has expanded rapidly (See my posts of Feb. 19, 2006 #4: Home Depot; Nov. 19, 2005: Google: and Sept. 22, 2005: Wal-Mart.). In the U.S., the law department of Caterpillar has doubled in size, to 179 lawyers, since 2002, according to Corp. Counsel, Vol. 15, June 2008 at 103.

Outside the U.S., here is a more exotic example. According to Corp. Counsel, Vol. 15, June 2008 at 64, TAQA, a Dubai-based energy investment company, has been a gusher of in-house growth. As the company swelled in the past three years to $22 billion of assets, its internal legal group grew to nine attorneys. The company recruited its first general counsel from Allen & Overy, no less.

On a separate note, it pleases me to add another country to my collection of non-US law departments that have appeared in this blog (See my post of June 10, 2008: Brazilian department; Dec. 11, 2007: Russian department; and Sept. 30, 2006: 11 other countries.).