Features February 2018

While clerking for U.S. District Judge Louis Bechtle in Philadelphia during the early 1980s, John Wright learned lessons from the distinguished jurist that might not have been covered a few years earlier at Villanova School of Law. “He was quite the pragmatist,” remembers Wright, who since 2004 has served as a vice president, general counsel […]

He says it like someone who’s spoken these words over and over again: “Who wants unwanted phone calls? No one. But sometimes they’ll happen, even with the best, most compliant network, like QuinStreet’s,” says Marty Collins. Collins, QuinStreet’s senior vice president for legal, compliance and corporate development, says he’s not a fan of unwanted sales […]

Lawyer jokes are a dime-a-dozen. As are the criticisms that lawyers only make things more difficult. On both fronts, Juan Camilo Bernate has heard them all, says the legal manager for Productos Ramo, a popular Colombian snackfood company. “People think the lawyer is the one creating the problem,” he says. “We’re trying to change that […]

There have to be times when Albert Li wishes there wasn’t such a need for Ottobock’s ingenuity. But if that need exists, he’s proud to serve as general counsel and compliance officer of the North American operations of the venerable German company that in 1919 began manufacturing artificial legs made so necessary by World War […]

Robert Rosen will be the first to tell you that not much may make sense about the turns his professional life has taken in the past few years. A self-proclaimed tech geek, the law never really has been the sole passion of this adventurous 45-year-old from New Jersey who, last autumn, shed the general counsel […]

Her early career spent in family law, Bobbie K. Risner may find its lessons ever applicable as she goes about her responsibilities of the past 18 years as general counsel of Garner Environmental Services Inc. in Deer Park, Texas. Garner being one of the nation’s most sought-after companies when it comes to disaster remediation, Risner’s […]

A quick Google search of Flint, Michigan, returns articles on its water crisis and its fall into destitution after automakers left. But defining the city purely by its struggles doesn’t do justice to the current efforts of Michigan-based health care companies that are revitalizing the local economy and filling the gaps left by GM and […]

While conducting an exercise meant to encourage information sharing between the legal leaders of Cargill’s various Central American offices, Michelle Canelo, legal manager for the region, had her big aha moment. It began with one lawyer discussing a problem he had encountered, and his eventual solution. Another attorney, representing a different country, chimed in to […]

It’s always buyer beware in the used-car market, but it’s been especially so since autumn 2017 when hundreds of thousands of vehicles were soaked by Texas and Florida floodwaters following Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria. Many of them could wind up for sale all over the country. Their appearances notwithstanding, it’s what’s under the hood […]

Much like quality bourbon or a fine wine, excellence takes time—and time appears to be the special ingredient for Brown-Forman Corporation. For close to 150 years, as it has honed its iconic spirits brands, the family-controlled company has also fostered a culture that is relationship-based and consensus-driven, says Matt Hamel, Brown-Forman’s executive vice president, general […]