This article is part one of a four-part series providing practical advice for general counsel directly from pros in the field.
What can make or break a general counsel's career faster than anything else? Here's a hint: Case studies are available weekly in front-page news and in many corporate boardrooms. In other words, general counsel today must know how to handle a major government investigation or highly-publicized issue (which inevitably becomes a government investigation).
Corporations receive far greater scrutiny today than they did 20 or 30 years ago. Regulators intervene far more frequently around the world. That means that every ambitious in-house lawyer must hone his or her skills to navigate the demands of a government investigation while they fulfill the many responsibilities of their day job. Your professional future may depend on it, and there are no dress rehearsals.
What better method than to learn from highly experienced legal heads of respected multinational companies? In July and August 2013 I interviewed six such pros in a range of industries and locations:
- Richard Bennett, former group general counsel (retired December 2012), HSBC Bank plc, London
- Sabine Chalmers, chief legal and corporate affairs officer, Anheuser-Busch InBev, New York
- Dan Fitz, general counsel, British Telecom Group, London
- Peter Herbel, general counsel, Total S.A., Paris
- Massimo Mantovani, general counsel, Eni S.p.A., Rome
- Michael O'Neill, general counsel, Canadian Helicopter Corp., Vancouver
And John Stout, the Minneapolis-based chair of the 2000-strong ABA Corporate Governance Committee, also provided some helpful input.
