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Passion Plays – the outside interests broadening the horizons of the modern GC

General counsel have more responsibilities than ever yet many find time in the schedule for outside commitments. James Wood reports.

Working long hours, expected to be available at all hours, and labelled a cost-centre. Such are the pressures of life in-house. The days of commerce and industry as a softer option for lawyers than the toil of the law firm associate track are rapidly drawing to a close.

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GC Perspectives – Philip Bramwell, BAE Systems

I’m of an age where I form part of a group of lawyers who elected to pursue careers in-house from the outside. I had failed to complete a chemical engineering course so I had a very clear purpose in studying law: I wanted to work in-house. I identified a couple of industries I thought should grow so I might surf that wave.

I started out in pharma in the late ‘70s, which was immensely enjoyable. I grew a love of complex businesses – global, multinational businesses. They provide rich opportunities for lawyers in a variety of areas – commercial, corporate, M&A. That is the theme I followed throughout my career.

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‘Growing confidence’: Linklaters and A&O lead on biggest post-crisis RMBS transaction

Magic Circle firms Linklaters and Allen & Overy were instructed on the £6.1bn securitisation of UK mortgages by private equity house Cerberus Capital Management in what is the largest residential mortgage-backed securitisation (RMBS) since misuse of the product brought about the financial crisis in 2007.

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Comment: GCs have scraped a seat at the table but too many are wasting the opportunity

Barclays, Volkswagen and Tesco are three massive businesses in three significant, sophisticated and important business sectors. Each one of these successful and long-lived businesses has access to significant in-house legal expertise, each is capable of paying for the best legal advice money can buy, each has invested heavily in risk management. And all of them are now paying the price for poor decisions made by some senior people behaving badly, very badly.

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