Working in a centralized legal department, providing legal advice for global business
Abstract
In-house legal departments serve as the company’s guardians of risk mitigation and internal regulations, balancing the boundaries set by applicable laws and the company’s individual risk portfolio with the company’s desire to make business. One pivotal question that often arises in the process of setting up the internal legal support system in a globally operating company is whether to establish a centralized legal function by having all members of the legal department installed at the head offices, or to rather follow the opposite approach, i.e., to install in-house legal counsels directly at the company’s relevant local offices. This article discusses some of the pros and cons of the named organizational set-up, based on my own personal experience as General Counsel and Head of Legal of a globally operating engineering and construction company. While performing a detailed analysis of the first, I identified that the centralized set-up does bring along many upsides but also provides for several challenges.
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