General Counsel Working Without Active Law License
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<<"In order to style yourself as a general counsel, you need to be admitted as a lawyer and in good standing in some jurisdiction," said Frederick J. Krebs, president of the Washington-based Association of Corporate Counsel. Besides, according to Krebs, all GCs are licensed.
All except for Nalle.
Nalle, a graduate of Harvard College and the University of Pennsylvania Law School, acts as general counsel for Merial, a Duluth-based worldwide animal health pharmaceutical producer and marketer that produces products that help protect cats and dogs from fleas and ticks.
However, "Nalle hasn't had an active legal license since 2000, when he asked the State Bar of Pennsylvania to move him to inactive status," continues the article. "[Nalle] asked to go inactive because he moved to London in 1997 when he helped create Merial as a joint venture between Merck and sanofi-aventis."
But "inactive is supposed to mean you're not in any way actively engaged in the practice of law," said Timothy P. Terrell, an Emory Law School professor of ethics. "If they're going to call themselves general counsel, and if a corporation can get the benefit of their advice, then they ought to be licensed."
An issue here, however, according to William P. Smith III, general counsel of the State Bar of Georgia is that the "separation between business and legal advice 'becomes a little gray.'" (law.com)
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