公司法务律师：公司的保护人和指导人.doc

A guardian and a guide 公司法律顾问：公司的保护人和引路人ONCE upon a time, in-house corporate lawyers were dismissed as plodders. Partners at law firms make far more money. Only someone who couldnt hack it as a legal brain-for-hire would seek the dull security of a salaried job, people assumed. But the power of in-house lawyers has grown hugely in the past ten years. The chief legal officer (CLO) is now one of the mightiest figures in the C-suite.曾几何时，当律师事务所的合伙人赚的盘满钵满的时候，公司法律顾问只能勉强度日。人们认为，只有那些能力一般的法律人才会满足于这一有保障的靠薪金度日的工作。不过，近10年来公司法律顾问的地位急速上升，首席法务官（CLO）目前已经是公司管理层中最牛的人之一。The main reason is that the legal thicket has grown thicker. In America, the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley act inserted federal law deep into corporate governance. The Dodd-Frank act of 2010 made running a financial business much more complicated. The penalties for rulebreaking have grown harsher, too. Companies can be turned inside out if a junior employee bribes someone on the other side of the world. Bosses can go to jail for infractions hardly anyone understands. Americas mighty prosecutors can indict a corporation, thus destroying it before any accusation is aired in court. Add to this the endless threat of lawsuits, class-action or otherwise, and life-or-death battles over patents. The top lawyer is now part of the inner circle, and big firms are finding it worthwhile to build large and talented legal departments.这主要是因为国家的法律越来越复杂和严密了。在美国，2002年萨班斯-奥克斯利法案的颁布意味着联邦法已经开始插手公司治理，而2010年通过的多德佛兰克法案则使金融企业的运营更加错综复杂，并且违反这些法律的处罚更加的严厉。如果公司的一名初级雇员贿赂了什么人，公司的命运可能遭到沉着的打击。老板们可能因一般人很难理解的违法行为而锒铛入狱。美国强大的检察官对公司的指控，在提交法院之前就有可能使公司遭受重创。此外公司还面临着无休止的诉讼、集团诉讼或其他法律上的威胁，以及事关公司生死存亡的专利争夺战。目前，高级律师已经进入公司的核心管理层，一些大的公司也发现组建实力雄厚的法务部门是有必要的。Meanwhile, the notion that all the clever lawyers are chasing fat fees at white-shoe law firms is pass. Those fees are under pressure, thanks to a glut of young lawyers, the use of technology and even offshoring. In-house jobs are now just as interesting, and demand saner hours. 与此同时，那种认为有才干的律师在律师事务所追逐暴利的观念已经过时。由于年轻律师供过于求，新技术甚至离岸外包的运用，那些高利润正在面临压力。而公司法律顾问的工作现在也非常吸引人，并且工作时间有规律。Norman Veasey and Christine Di Guglielmo, a former judge and his former clerk, argue in a new book, “Indispensable Counsel”, that a CLO must be a “courageous Renaissance person”. By this they do not mean that he must fight the trial bar with one hand while painting frescoes with the other, but that he must perform more than one role. He must be a business partner and a guardian of corporate integrity. He (or she20% of Americas big-company CLOs are women) represents the entire corporate entity, not just its managers. He answers directly to the board as well as to the boss. Professional ethics often require the CLO to say no to the other suits in the C-suite. One CLO complained to Mr Veasey and Ms Di Guglielmo that: “They sometimes view you as the Business Frustration Department.”曾经担任过法官Norman Veasey 和他的书记员Christine Di Guglielmo，在新出版的不可缺少的法律顾问一书中写道，首席法务官必须成为一个“勇敢的具有文艺复兴精神的人”。 这并不意味着他仅能在法庭雄辩，还能在艺术方面有所建树，而是指他必须执行完全多个角色。他必须既是商业伙伴人，又是公司诚信的监护人。他（或者她，美国大型公司的首席法务官有20%是女性）对整个公司而不仅仅是其顶头上司负责。他需要直接向董事会和老板汇报工作。职业道德使首席法务官必须经常向管理层的其他大佬说不。一名首席法务官向Veasey先生和Di Guglielmo女士抱怨说：“他们总是把你视作阻碍业务发展的部门”。But saying no is an integral part of the job. Tom Sabatino, the CLO of Walgreens, a pharmacy chain, says that before taking the job, a lawyer should interview his chief executive. If you cant say no to that person, “you dont want to work for that company.” Other CLOs agree. Ben Heineman, the top lawyer at GE for many years, puts it like this: “If youre a naysayer you dont even get invited to the meetings. If youre a yeasayer, you can get indicted.”但是，说不是公司法律顾问工作必不可少的一部分。Tom Sabatino，连锁药店Walgreens的首席法务官说，在开展工作之前，律师应当与公司首席执行官进行面谈，如果你不敢对他说不，“你就没法履行自己的职责”。另外一名首席法务官，GE公司资深高级法律顾问Ben Heineman，也深有体会，他这样形象的描述：“如果你是一个老唱反调的人，你会受到排斥，甚至会被拒绝参加相关重要会议。如果你是一个惟命是从的人，你可能会面临犯罪的指控。”Steven Woghin, Computer Associates former general counsel, went to jail for backdating contracts to inflate revenue. Howard Udell, a former general counsel for, was barred from working for a drug company for 12 years. He committed no fraud, but failed to stop the marketing team from playing down the addictiveness of OxyContin, a painkiller. Sarbanes-Oxley, in particular, has increased the lawyers responsibility to keep his company straight, or face punishment.Steven Woghin，计算机协会前总法律顾问，因为在合同上倒填日期以夸大收入而被送进了监狱。Howard Udell，Purdue Pharma公司的前总法律顾问，尽管没有从事任何欺诈行为，但是因为没能阻止公司销售部门隐瞒OxyContin（一种止痛药）能使人上瘾的副作用，为此被迫离开工作了12年的药品公司。特别是萨班斯-奥克斯利法案的实施增加了律师的责任，如果不能维护公司诚信，他们就将面临惩罚。 A CLO must be independent. But unlike outside lawyers, his financial future depends on just one client: his employer. He must protect the companys reputation with customers, suppliers, journalists and non-governmental organisations. And he must do more than merely tell managers what they can get away with. As Susan Hackett, a former director of the Association of Corporate Counsel, says: “Most lawyers will look at legal rules and say: Here are the ways you can do it. A good general counsel says: Of course its legal, but its stupid.” Diplomacy is as important as legal analysis in delivering this message.首席法务官必须是独立的。但是与外面的律师不同，他的财务来源只来自于一个顾客：他的雇主。在客户、供应商、记者和非政府组织面前他必须维护公司的声誉。他不仅要告诉老板应当怎么度过难关外，还需要做更多。正如前企业法律顾问协会主任Susan Hackett所言：“许多律师将会翻阅法律规则并说，你应该这么做。一个优秀的”总法律顾问“则会说会说“当然，这是法律，但很愚蠢“。在交流的时侯，外交辞令和法律分析一样重要。Perhaps the hardest balancing act for a CLO is that he must be both a cautious lawyer and a member of the strategy team. Only the best CLOs excel in both roles. A visionary thinks about the future, but a lawyers stock-in-trade is precedent. If he gets too involved in business, he may forget to be a lawyer. (American courts have ruled that a CLOs purely business advice is not covered under attorney-client privilege.) Yet if he stays too cautious, he will never rise to the top.对于首席法务官而言，也许最难以平衡是他必须既是一名谨慎的律师，同时又是决策层的一员。只有最好的首席法务官才能同时扮演好这两个角色。决策需要的是远见卓识，但是律师的思维模式却是遵循先例。如果过多的参与业务，他就将失去律师身份所享有的特权。（根据美国法院的判例，首席法务官的商业建议并不适用律师-客户守密特权。注：在证据法上，指客户拒绝披露及阻止他人披露其与律师之间为获得或提供法律咨询或帮助而作的秘密交流的特权。尽管该项特权由客户享有，但他也准许律师拒绝就其从客户那里得知的信息作证。客户可以放弃该项特权。）但是，如果他过于谨慎，他就难以升到公司高管的位置。Are the two roles in conflict? Not necessarily. Good lawyering can be good for business. A sharp legal department can enforce a sound anti-bribery policy, while rival firms run into swamps. It can knock down competitors patentshandy when so many technology firms are warring over intellectual property. It can smooth takeoverstricky in any industry under scrutiny by trustbusters, such as telecoms or airlines.这两个角色一定会发生冲突吗？当然未必。优秀的律师总是能够游刃有余。一个强势的法律部门能够有力的执行稳健的反贿赂政策，而对手公司经常因此而深陷泥潭；能够轻松的击败竞争者对专利的抢夺，而众多技术公司可能因此陷入知识产权争斗战；能够巧妙的化解反托拉斯管员密切监管的行业（例如电信业或航空业）中的兼并问题。 From courtroom to corner office从法庭到高管办公室A few CLOs become chief executives. Kenneth Frazier won the top job at Merck, a drug firm, after defending it against lawsuits related to an arthritis medication. Jeff Smisek was Continental Airlines general counsel before taking over the company; he now runs United Airlines, which merged with Continental in 2010. Both lawyers thrived in heavily regulated industries.很少有首席法务官能够成为公司首席执行官。Kenneth Frazier帮医药公司Merck赢得了一场关节炎药物的诉讼后，获得了这家公司的最高职位。Jeff Smisek曾经是Continental Airlines公司的总法律顾问，公司2010年与United Airlines合并后，他成为United Airlines的管理者。这两名律师都是在受严格管制的行业中脱颖而出的。 But it is hard for a lawyer to jump straight from CLO to CEO, says Mr Heineman. Business experience is crucial, which is why Jack Welch, GEs former boss, plucked sev