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93
BUSINESS
THINKING
IN TODAY’S BUSINESS CLIMATE IT’S IMPERATIVE FOR IN-HOUSE TEAMS
TO DEMONSTRATE VALUE TO THE BUSINESS. IN A REGULAR COLUMN,
PAUL HUGHES
OF CRANFIELD SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT TELLS US WHY
AND HOW.
A DANGEROUS
GAME OF BLUFF
W
hen I was talking recently with the
GC of a multinational operating
globally, they outlined the purpose
of their legal function to me. They said it
existed to ‘provide high quality legal services
tailored to the organisation’s needs, carried
out by more knowledgeable lawyers than
could be secured from external providers,
yet at a much reduced price than would be
paid if solely using an external supplier’.
They went on to explain that the ‘highly
administrative or specialised legal work was
outsourced, while the core service (comprised
mostly of commercial contract drafting,
processing, revision and review, corporate
legal compliance, managing employee matters
from a legal perspective, and numerous other
advisory actions on the legal requirements of
organisational operations), was maintained by
the in-house team’. I would think this broad
description is a reasonable summary of what
many - if not most - in-house lawyers reading
this might describe their own function as
doing. If so, well done, you are echoing the
words of a highly successful global GC.