Bonnie Glantz Fatell, partner in Blank Rome's Wilmington office, recently authored a chapter for ExecSense's The Most Important Corporate Law Lessons for CEOs. The chapter, entitled "The Importance of Free Flow of Information Between Management & In-House Counsel," focused on the evolving role of in-house counsel in companies and the changing relationships between an in-house counsel or legal department and upper management.
Ms. Fatell highlights that while in the past, the General Counsel of a company was primarily "the gatekeeper" and responsible for risk management, the role played by today's GCs is that of "a lawyer statesman." She notes that, "The essence of being a lawyer statesman is to move beyond the first question – 'is it legal?' to the ultimate question – 'is it right?'," and that, "The lawyer statesman role involves not just dealing with past problems, but charting future courses; not just playing defense, but playing offense; not just providing legal advice, broadly defined, but being part of the business team and offering business advice."
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