The recent meeting that Lyondell Chemical Co. held for its outside litigators was, for the most part, a staid and conventional affair. The Houston-based firm assembled 90 lawyers at the local Four Seasons Hotel to review recent cases and discuss upcoming issues. But the daylong session also featured something that you won’t see at any other corporate conference: knighting ceremonies.
Three times during the Dec. 10 meeting, associate general counsel Joseph Speelman honored outside lawyers by inducting them into the “Knights of the Lyondell Enterprise.” The 17 attorneys who joined the ten-year-old “order” were each recognized for helping the company score a major litigation victory. While they didn’t have to bow on bended knee, each lawyer received a keepsake — and it wasn’t a paperweight.
