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Did Home Depot GC's 'Lawyer Light' Philosophy Lead to Legal Staff Layoffs?
Fulton County Daily Report
February 21, 2008
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The legal department of The Home Depot was not immune to the company's Jan. 31 layoff of 500 of its 5,000 employees at its corporate headquarters.
The 10 percent reduction in corporate staff affected all departments -- including legal -- to varying degrees, corporate spokesman Ron DeFeo said. The company would not say how many employees were cut from the legal department or give any other details, including the size of the law department.
One Home Depot lawyer who was laid off -- and who did not want to be identified -- estimated a total of 17 people from the law department lost their jobs. Others familiar with Home Depot estimated the company has 80 lawyers. The Web site for the State Bar of Georgia shows 41 lawyers who list their company as either "Home Depot" or "The Home Depot."
Linking the layoffs to the downturn in the housing market, the company announced that the terminated employees would receive paychecks for 60 days, as prescribed by federal law. Home Depot also cut 300 jobs from corporate headquarters in the summer of 2006.
Some legal observers attributed the recent cuts in the legal department at least in part to a change in philosophy with the company's new general counsel, Jack A. VanWoerkom, hired in June 2007 by relatively new CEO Frank Blake, who took over at Home Depot in January 2007. They call the approach "lawyer light" and say it includes cuts in compliance.
"I think it's more a shift in focus," said Robert T. Graff III, managing partner of Major, Lindsey & Africa, a legal recruiting firm. "There's less growth and acquisition, and so less need for lawyers."
As for compliance cutbacks, Graff said, "Frank Blake is an extremely bright lawyer himself. Perhaps he's not as scared of legal issues as a nonlawyer would be."
The month after Blake took over, Frank Fernandez resigned as Home Depot's GC. Jim Snyder served as interim GC from February until VanWoerkom took over.
Home Depot spokesman DeFeo said VanWoerkom would not comment on the layoffs or other matters involving the legal department because he is in a two-week quiet period before earnings are announced at the end of the month.
