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Best Legal Department — 2009
Once again, we read submissions, we talked, and we argued-and we came up with three winners. But only one can grab the brass ring.
Corporate Counsel
June 01, 2009
You might say that this year, everyone's a winner. Overstatement? Sure. But it sums up the hard choices Corporate Counsel judges faced this year. A crop of stellar entrants in our annual survey of legal departments led to a long, spirited debate in our staff discussions about who deserved the top prize.
A couple of things stood out. In tallying up our final grades, there wasn't a whole lot separating the leading contenders. The gap between the winner and the runners-up was much smaller than in past years. And we decided to highlight for the first time the achievements of those that didn't quite make the final cut, because most departments had good stories to tell about themselves.
In the end, though, we had to make a choice. We once again picked a department that prevailed against adversity, this time against a backdrop of financial meltdown. Which goes to show that, in words attributed to Samuel Johnson, "nothing concentrates the mind so wonderfully as the prospect of being hanged." Turn the page to see who won our fourth annual contest.
They Aced the Stress Test: The Winner
Big Brains: Finalist
Carrot and Stick: Finalist
Diverse Enough?
Best of the Rest
A couple of things stood out. In tallying up our final grades, there wasn't a whole lot separating the leading contenders. The gap between the winner and the runners-up was much smaller than in past years. And we decided to highlight for the first time the achievements of those that didn't quite make the final cut, because most departments had good stories to tell about themselves.
In the end, though, we had to make a choice. We once again picked a department that prevailed against adversity, this time against a backdrop of financial meltdown. Which goes to show that, in words attributed to Samuel Johnson, "nothing concentrates the mind so wonderfully as the prospect of being hanged." Turn the page to see who won our fourth annual contest.
