• DEREK BENTON Director of International Operations, Lexis-Nexis Martindale-Hubbell, London
  Lawyers Network Differently as the World Grows Flatter
• PETER J. BESHAR EVP and General Counsel, Marsh & McLennan Companies, New York City
  Living Through a Corporate Crisis and Preparing for What Might Come Next
• JEFFREY CARR General Counsel, FMC Technologies, Houston
  Building a Better Legal Service Delivery System
• BRUNO COVA, Partner, Paul Hastings, Milan
  Reflections on Moving Inside to Outside, and European Counsel Must Improve Compliance
• E. LEIGH DANCE, President, ELD International, Inc., New York and Rome
  Introduction and European Counsel Must Improve Compliance
• JAN EIJSBOUTS, former General Counsel, Akzo Nobel, Amsterdam
  Foreword
• ROSS FISHMAN, CEO, Fishman Marketing, Highland Park, Illinois
  Focus: The Benefits of a Narrow Scope in the Face of Global Opportunity
• TIM S. GLASSETT, Former General Counsel, Hilton Hotels Corporation, Beverly Hills, CA
  Building and Motivating a High-Performing Global Legal Team
• ANN LEE GIBSON, Ann Lee Gibson Consulting, West Plains, Missouri
  Feels Like 1990 All Over Again: Law Firm Economic Cycles
• FADI HAMMADEH, General Counsel, Dubai Properties Group, Dubai
  The Regulatory Pendulum Worldwide: Where are we Headed?
• ALAN JENKINS, Chairman, Eversheds LLP, London
  Understanding the Importance of Culture in Managing a Global Law Firm
• PETER KALIS, Chairman and Global Managing Partner, K&L Gates LLP, New York City
  The Signature Legal Challenge of the 21st Century
• DESPINA KARTSON, Chief Marketing Officer, Latham & Watkins LLP, New York City
  The Role of Law Firm Values in Successful Global Expansion
• BRUCE MacEWEN, Founder, “Adam Smith Esq.,”, New York City
  Re-thinking Your Global Strategy: Geography, Talent and Management
• CHRIS MARSHALL, Pro Bono & Community Manager, Reed Smith and Chair, Board of Trustees, Advocates for International Development, London
  International Pro Bono – Broadening our Geographical Reach
• DEBORAH MCMURRAY, CEO and Strategy Architect, Content Pilot LLC, Dallas
  LAW FIRM 4.0: Considerations for the Global Law Firm in 2020
• MARY MULLALLY, Head of Networks, Practical Law Company, London
  How Corporate Counsel in the UK and Europe are Changing, and the Key Elements of Success
• MICHAEL O’NEILL, SVP and General Counsel, Lenovo Corporation, Washington D.C.
  Fit for Global: Operating Tenets for the General Counsel
• JOLENE OVERBECK, Chief Marketing Officer, DLA Piper, New York City
  Moving the Global Law Firm Through a Challenging Economy: Focus on Strategy
• NORM RUBENSTEIN, Partner, Zeughauser Group, Washington D.C.
  The Key to Credible International Branding
• THOMAS J. SABATINO, Jr., Executive Vice President & General Counsel, Schering-Plough Corporation, New Jersey
  Musical Chairs: How Today’s General Counsel Earns a Seat at the Top Executive Table
• HELENA SAMAHA, General Counsel EMEA, AlixPartners, Paris
  Transcending Legal Expertise to Get to the Heart of Serving Global Clients
• ADAM SMITH, General Counsel, EADS Defence & Security, Munich
  Laws are Local: How Can Corporate Legal Services Become More Global?
• JOHN H. STOUT, Partner, Fredrikson & Byron, Minneapolis
  The Fulfilled International Lawyer: Advice for a Successful Career
• DAVID SYED, Senior Partner - Europe, Orrick, Paris
  Changing Supply & Demand for Global Legal Services: The Multi-polar Dynamic
• MARY K YOUNG, Partner, Zeughauser Group, Washington D.C.
  Moving the Global Law Firm Through a Challenging Economy: Focus on Strategy

 

insights from legal luminaries worldwide

Edited by E. Leigh Dance

 

Foreward

It is a great pleasure to introduce Leigh Dance’s book on the occasion of the 15-year birthday of her global legal services consultancy, ELD International, Inc.  Leigh and I have worked together on many projects for the last six years, facilitating practical exchanges and promoting critical thinking among business lawyers globally.  We share the same objective: to advance the structures, management and transparency of corporate legal services to meet the needs of the changing world around us.  

I have met few individuals that have been as closely involved as Leigh Dance in the many developments in our industry globally— both as they affect corporate legal teams and law firms.   Through her consultancy she has contributed significantly to the high quality of international corporate legal advice.  The outstanding list of legal luminaries that readily agreed to write essays specifically for this book is the best testimony to Leigh’s talents.  She helped select and develop the essay topics with each author and was integrally involved in the editing.  The result should make both ELD International and the essay contributors very proud.

The last fifteen years have witnessed a landslide shift in the international legal business profession, including how legal advice is rendered to corporations.  The root causes are many:  globalization of business, proliferation of regulation, governance demands for stringent risk management and compliance measures in response to scandals, new conflict management techniques, technology advances, and the increasing importance of all of the above in corporate social responsibility and protecting the company’s reputation. 

My experiences in these fields have led me to three conclusions.   First:  legal aspects of international business have become so important for achieving a company’s objectives that highly experienced, skilled and proactive legal advice is indispensable in day-to-day business management.  Second:  this legal advice can only be given with a profound knowledge of the business, keen understanding of the global business strategies and policies, and intimate familiarity with the company’s culture and code of conduct.  In-house counsel are thus best placed to manage the rendering of this advice.  Third:  inside and outside counsel are natural allies.  They need a seamless and committed working relationship to guarantee the timeliness, quality and cost effectiveness of the advice, all of which must come from perfect mutual trust and resolve.

As a consequence of these conclusions, I see the modern corporate legal department of the transnational company as an international law firm in its own right, with three dimensions: general business lawyers with global responsibility, legal specialists in the core legal fields for the company’s operations, and in-house lawyers on the ground in the main jurisdictions where the company conducts its business.  International practice groups, knowledge and contract management systems, risk and conflict management systems, management development and career systems, intranets and even legal department business managers are all needed to run such a complicated in-house legal function.  Also crucial for this function is a set of law firms with established relationships with the in-house lawyers and a solid understanding of the company’s business, strategies, policies and importantly, places where it operates worldwide. 

Because of the above shifts, the focal point for corporate legal services management is definitively in-house. This is manifest in the rise of the General Counsel position, and the troublesome trend for regulators to target them in their compliance enforcement actions.  It reminds us of the paramount importance of first class ethics and legal compliance systems.

In my former capacities as General Counsel of Akzo Nobel and Co-chair of the IBA Corporate Counsel Forum, I have been able to profit greatly from Leigh’s extensive knowledge, her excellent consulting skills, and perhaps above all I’ve enjoyed her special personal and professional style.  I’m honored that she invited me to write this preface. 

To those of you who have read this far, I encourage you to jump in, and profit from the many superb ideas and thought-provoking perspectives advanced in these pages.

Jan Eijsbouts