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published September 29, 2008
Stony Olsen
<<The National Law Journal is reporting that many large corporate failures, such as the failures of Lehman Brothers, Fannie Mae, and Washington Mutual, have led to increased expectations on the part of general counsels regarding oversight.
And it's not just more oversight that's expected. Massive changes in company risk management are expected as well. Greater state government regulations, federal oversight, and more attorneys general probes are all anticipated.
Internal company risk management committees, then, will probably have to work more and report more often to corporate boards.
All of this is not unexpected, of course. Any time a major financial and corporate disaster hits, the surviving companies all say, ''How can we avoid the same fate?''
So what does this mean for corporate counsels? Well, at a minimum, it means more work. Most likely, there will be an increase in regulatory work, compliance issues, and oversight. For corporate job seekers, if you can help in those areas, you will probably be in high demand.
It also means that for those seeking a general counsel position, it would be wise to bone up on regulatory and statutory interpretation skills. Oversight work skills will also be great to have.
But that's not all. With risk avoidance a high priority now, expect a given legal department to have to scrutinize deals, debts, contracts, and other such things to provide more risk avoidance. Thus, there will likely be opportunities in the contract review departments for more general counsels as well.
<<Outside law firms and oversight of them will probably be shaken up, too.
In any case, expect general counsels and the legal departments at many firms to expand. That's good news for corporate counsel job seekers. Get your resumes in shape and get them in early, emphasizing how great you are at oversight and regulatory compliance. Those areas will most likely become very hot, very soon.
In particular, if the upcoming election brings a Democratic administration, look for much more enforcement and compliance work to be needed.
If you're a lawyer who needs work, make sure you look to the corporate counsel ranks for options. Good luck!
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