Microsoft is door het blad Corporate Counsel uitgeroepen tot het bedrijf met het beste legal team. Volgens het blad geeft vooral de in 2009 getroffen schikking met de Europese Commissie over het openstellen van Windows voor andere webbrowsers blijk van een nieuwe oplossingsgerichtheid van Microsoft. “The settlement was also symbolic for the company’s legal team, which set out to prove that it can resolve disputes amicably, despite Microsoft’s reputation for aggressively fighting legal disputes to their bitter, final end.”
Andere redenen om Microsoft de prijs toe te kennen: de juridische afdeling wist het succes te bereiken ondanks kortingen in budget en het snijden in personeel wegens de economische crisis, de diversiteit van de legal department werd verbeterd en het verleende jurifische steun aan immigrantenkinderen. “In other words, it has reached out to the community and given back in tough times,” aldus Corporate Counsel.
De overige finalisten waren Discover Financial Services, Hewlett Packard en The Williams Companies. Over Discover: “The legal department at Discover – the country’s sixth-largest credit card company, headquartered in the Chicago suburb of Riverwoods – has only 34 lawyers. While they have limited resources, they are doing a lot with what they have. Its tiny litigation team – with just one full-time attorney and two part-time lawyers – handled over 1,000 legal matters in 2009, while resolving 11 of 14 pending class action suits. Not bad for a small legal team!”
Over Hewlett Packard: “Retooling of the legal department, reorganization of litigation, and commitment to pro bono and diversity. ‘ This isn’t a place lawyers go to retire,’ said deputy GC Ashley Watson. Today, HP lawyers describe the department as ‘ energized’. In the past two years especially, there have been higher work expectations, a boatload of new hires, and ambitious new projects like revamping the company’s worldwide system for complying with local laws that have meant more work for newcomers and veterans alike. Changes were not easily made, but today HP’s Legal Department stands as one of the best in the country.”
Tot slot de The William Companies: “Williams’ legal department was able to do what most talk about, but never get to achieve: to cut its outside legal expenses by about 15 percent. The effort started six years ago, when General Counsel Jim Bender decided to reduce the number of law firms the natural gas company used, and implemented blended-rates (that came as close to fixed rates as can be). Williams’s ability to use its data to effectively manage outside counsel is one reason it was chosen as a finalist for Best Legal Department. They’ve also done a god job implementing a new compliance program and developing a comprehensive approach to discovery. Kudos for a legal department that’s done what most hope to achieve , but never quite get to do – make real cuts into outside legal fees.”