Apparently, it’s award season for the inhouse set. Hot on the heels of The National Law Journal’s “20 Most Influential General Counsel” list comes the Euro version, InternationalLawOffice.com’s “European Counsel Awards 2009.”
The awards were presented with the assistance of the Association of Corporate Counsel Europe.
Over 3,000 individual nominations from corporate counsel and law firm partners make the European Counsel Awards unique in clearly identifying those in-house counsel, both teams and individuals, who excel in their specific roles. Our primary aim is to recognize lawyers for demonstrable achievements across the full spectrum of in-house responsibility, not simply those who have acted on high-profile transactions.
A few of the winners were:
- Simon Cresswell – Goldman Sachs International for M&A – Individual;
- ISDA for Regulatory (Financial Services) – Team; and
- Pascal Duclos of the Dufry Group – GC of the Year.
After the jump, notes on the US winners.
The NLJ describes its awards as follows:
In this inaugural publication of The National Law Journal‘s Most Influential General Counsel, we have highlighted 20 attorneys whose leadership has proven strong — and even creative — during the turmoil in the legal industry.
And turmoil it’s been. Contributing writer Emily Heller notes a November 2008 survey by Altman Weil, which found that 75 percent of general counsel said that their departments would have tighter budgets this year, with an average decrease of about 11 percent. At the same time, major law firms in February alone shed 1,131 attorneys, and 1,661 legal staffers, according to the online layoff tracker Law Shucks.
(Emphasis added. The whole second paragraph was included just so we could toot our own horn, obviously.)
Some of the notable winners on the NLJ list – which focuses on “influence” (read: popularity contest) – are:
- Brackett Deniston of GE – which has a law department bigger than most firms, with 1,300 lawyers;
- Ivan Fong, the outgoing chair of the Association of Corporate Counsel, who will be leaving Cardinal Health for the Department of Homeland Security;
- Rick Palmore of General Mills, who has been way out front on managing outside counsel’s diversity initiatives; and
- Brad Smith of Microsoft, who has been getting his ass kicked in antitrust for years, but whatever.
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since when were Polar Bear killers influential.
since when were Polar Bear killers influential.