Fortune Details How Star General Counsel Jeff Kindler Met His Downfall as Pfizer CEO

Trained as a trial lawyer, Jeffrey Bruce Kindler did so well as Pfizer Inc.’s general counsel that the company made him its CEO in 2006. But from there his career trajectory took a nosedive. A lengthy Fortune magazine article for the first time details what it describes as his downfall.…

Aug 1, 2011 8:09 PM CDT

In-House Approach: Corporate Lawyers Say E-Discovery Software, Savings Are There

Aug 1, 2011 6:10 AM CDT

Former GC Sentenced to 15 Years for Aiding Life Settlement Fraud; Defense Argued He Was Naïve

The former general counsel of a Houston life settlement company has been sentenced to more than 15 years in prison for aiding a corporate scheme that defrauded investors of $100 million. Even the prosecutor described the defendant, Russell Mackert, as kind and mild-mannered, Corporate Counsel reports. Mackert’s lawyer, Carolyn Grady,…

Jul 29, 2011 3:49 PM CDT

Tourette’s Doesn’t Interfere with Public Role for New General Counsel at ACC

The new general counsel for the Association of Corporate Counsel doesn’t shy away from public speaking, despite his Tourette’s Syndrome. Most recently, James Merklinger was deputy general counsel and acting vice president of legal resources at the group, according to a press release. In his new role as general counsel,…

Jul 26, 2011 3:26 PM CDT

IPad-Wielding News Corp. Lawyer Got to Pie Thrower First

Wendi Deng Murdoch is getting all the publicity for coming to her husband’s aid when a protester tried to assault her husband, Rupert Murdoch, with a shaving cream pie on Tuesday. But there’s an unknown hero in the pie fracas—News Corp.’s interim group general counsel Janet Nova. According to the…

Jul 21, 2011 4:11 PM CDT

Recruited by Skadden as She Neared 70, Chicago Lawyer’s Job Is to Bring in Business, Mentor Women

Sheli Rosenberg had retired in 2002, well-to-do and weary after decades as a high-profile Illinois lawyer. When Wayne Whalen of Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom asked her to breakfast last year at the Chicago Club, Rosenberg, who is now 69, expected him to pitch her about making a political…

Jul 19, 2011 5:20 PM CDT

Top-Earning GC Is a Woman Who Made $6.5M In Cash Compensation

A woman who is chief legal officer of tobacco giant Altria Group is the nation’s top-earning general counsel. Denise Keane earned $6.5 million in total cash compensation in 2010, putting her in the No. 1 spot in a survey of general counsel pay, Corporate Counsel reports. No woman has held…

Jul 19, 2011 1:41 PM CDT

Hacking Scandal Leaves News Corp. Legal Department in Disarray

Updated: The legal department at News Corp. is in a state of upheaval after a hacking scandal at its News of the World tabloid. Worldwide general counsel Lawrence Jacobs left last month, spurring a search for a new general counsel, Reuters reports. Meanwhile, two lawyers have left the company’s U.K.…

Jul 14, 2011 1:33 PM CDT

Former Hospital GC Set to Enter Guilty Plea in Alleged $1.7M Embezzlement

A former hospital general counsel accused of embezzling $1.7 million from his one-time employer has reportedly agreed to plead guilty in the criminal case against him. Roosevelt Hairston Jr. is scheduled to enter a guilty plea on Wednesday, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. Hairston’s lawyer, Bruce Klein of Philadelphia, told the…

Jul 12, 2011 4:11 PM CDT

Wal-Mart Launches Medical-Legal Partnership to Aid Low-Income Families

Starting on its home turf in Arkansas, but with plans to expand the program, Wal-Mart’s legal department is providing free legal services for patients at the Arkansas Children’s Hospital. The medical-legal partnership is being touted as the first such partnership between a large corporate legal department and a major hospital.…

Jul 5, 2011 12:41 PM CDT

‘Two Cheers for Hourly Billing,’ General Counsel Writes

The oft-vilified method of hourly billing got support this week from former a general counsel-turned-legal consultant. “Before you get caught up in the [alternative fee arrangement] stampede, remember that hourly billing can still work when done right. Both are part of a GC’s cost-control portfolio,” John Wallbillich wrote in a…

Jul 1, 2011 7:00 PM CDT

Law Job Stagnation May Have Started Before the Recession—And It May Be a Sign of Lasting Change

The legal profession is undergoing a massive structural shift—one that will leave it dramatically transformed in the coming years.

Jul 1, 2011 9:40 AM CDT

Consulting Outside Counsel Was Key in Ex-Glaxo Lawyer’s Midtrial Acquittal by Judge

A pleasing personality and a sympathetic judge helped former GlaxoSmithKline in-house counsel Lauren Stevens win acquittal on all six counts during a federal obstruction trial last month. But the fact that she had relied on advice from outside counsel in withholding material from federal investigators looking into the pharmaceutical company’s…

Jun 24, 2011 11:15 AM CDT

Ex-IRS Commissioner Links Financial Crisis to Lawyers, Says Privilege and Pay Part of the Problem

The basis for the financial crisis is still being analyzed, but a former commissioner for the Internal Revenue Service suggests tax and corporate lawyers may have been partly to blame. In an op-ed for the New York Times, former IRS commissioner Mark Everson points to law’s evolution as a business.…

Jun 20, 2011 1:28 PM CDT

Longtime ACC General Counsel Susan Hackett Is Leaving to Form Own Consultancy

As a new CEO takes the helm at the Association of Corporate Counsel this month, replacing retiring president Frederick J. Krebs, the trade group for in-house lawyers is also announcing the planned departure of another longtime executive. Senior vice president and general counsel Susan Hackett is leaving ACC after 22…

Jun 13, 2011 9:19 PM CDT