In-House Counsel

Rees Morrison?s Morsels #98 ? additions to earlier posts and short takes

By Rees Morrison

A course in law school, ?Practicing Law In-House.? Profiled in ACC Docket, Vol. 27, April 2009 at 94, David Benck, general counsel for Hibbett Sports , teaches a course at Samford University?s Cumberland School of Law. His course ?teaches aspiring attorneys the details of becoming a practicing member of a corporate legal department" (See my post of Feb. 25, 2009: academics with 16 references.). I would be delighted to hear about similar courses.

A secondment at cost. Corp. Counsel, Vol. 16, April 2009 at 82, mentions that Cardinal Health brought inside a Benesch Friedlander lawyer who worked as a full-time employee in the company?s legal department. Wendy Hufford, Cardinal Health?s chief litigation counsel, said ?it was a benefit having him at cost? (See my post of July 17, 2008: secondment with 12 references; and Jan. 23, 2008.). A mid-level associate billed at his or her full cost to the law firm would bill at $100 an hour or thereabouts.

Increase over a decade in minority general counsel. Janet Langford Kelly, Susan Sneider and Kelly Fox, ?The Relationship Between the Legal Department and the Corporation,? in Successful Partnering Between Inside and Outside Counsel, (Robert Haig, Ed.) Vol. 1, Chapter 16 at 16-74 points out the progress made in the number of minority general counsel of Fortune 500 companies. In 1997 there were 11 minority general counsel; a decade later there were 39, an increase of 350 percent (See my post of June 17, 2008: diversity with 29 references.).

ANSI and standard setting organizations. A presentation by lawyers at Oracle and Sun Microsystems mentioned that the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) accredits organizations that develop standards. More than 200 ANSI-accredited Standards Setting Organizations (SSO) exist. Every SSO has its own governance structure and typically an intellectual property rights policy. Law departments pay heed to SSOs in their industry and take part in many of them (See my post of Feb. 19, 2009: Philips and its efforts with industry standards, including the International Standards Organisation.).

Full post as published by Law Department Management on April 20, 2009 (boomark / email).