What do law and preventative medicine have in common? Turns out a lot, according to Karen Rubin of Thompson Hine. In a recent post she tells the story of a young—and new to the job—general counsel whose understanding of corporate ethics proved as necessary as exercise and a healthy diet.
The issue was a potential conflict between a member of the client’s governing body and a significant transaction in which he appeared to have a financial interest. The GC discovered this within a few months of her start date. “We couldn’t stick our head in the sand and pretend ethics issues were not present,” she tells Rubin. Instead, the GC addressed the issue directly by working with the CEO at her company and approaching the state ethics commission for guidance.
