The In-House Counsel as Legal Risk Manager and Business Partner: Are These Roles Compatible?

Massimiliano Carpino, Global General Counsel, GUCCI, Switzerland

With a view to reducing the gap between the perception of the legal office (both internally and externally) and its actual role (communicated and implemented) and mental attitude, I wrote and circulated an internal document entitled “The In-House Counsel as Legal Risk Manager and Business Partner: Are These Roles Compatible?” My attorney colleagues and I were attempting to share a broad overview of how in-house counsel must be capable of thinking and acting in various apparently contradictory ways. Basically, I’m talking about what I’ve always called a “healthy feeling of imbalance”, meaning the comfortable feeling that comes from the knowledge that a precarious position is the norm.

Global General Counsel and Board Member of GUCCI S.p.A., Massimiliano is an Italian BAR admitted lawyer with high degree of expertise and experience in corporate crimes at both national and transnational level. He is also Adjunct Professor of "Criminal &

Founded in Florence in 1921, GUCCI is one of the world's leading luxury fashion brands which employs over than 10000 people around the globe. With a renowned reputation for quality and Italian craftsmanship, GUCCI designs, manufactures and distributes hig