“Law firms just don’t get it, they spend all their time thinking about transactions and that’s so far off the agenda for general counsel right now. What GCs are focused on is risk.”
So said an old contact of mine who spends much of their time working with senior corporate counsel. It’s hard to argue. Everywhere you turn there is risk for large companies. This week alone has seen HSBC put a $1.5bn (£934m) price tag on its expected fine after falling foul of US money laundering laws. Standard Chartered and Barclays have likewise had costly brushes with prosecutors this year and the Libor fall-out looks only to be getting started.
