Welcome back to Inside Track!

Legal operations is more popular than ever before. There is more of an awareness about its purpose, perhaps because of groups like the Corporate Legal Operations Consortium, or CLOC, and the Association of Corporate Counsel, or ACC.

Earlier this month, Onit and SimpleLegal published a white paper outlining where legal operations is headed and the issues the field may run into.

"Legal operations is growing so fast it is unclear if there will be enough talent," the paper says.

The paper cites the problem of no business schools and only a few law schools that train for legal operations. Because of this coupled with the fact that many legal operations professionals are moving to law firms for a higher pay, many legal operations services may be outsourced.

"For these reasons, we are likely to see the substantial outsourcing of legal ops (some are calling it "ops in a box") to managed services providers who can better leverage talent among numerous organizations," the paper says.

Do you have any concerns about the future of legal operations? Let me know by emailing me at [email protected].

What's Happening

Stopping Bad Donations

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston has had to wrestle with what to do with donations from donors who have a shaky reputation. The school had previously taken in a $125,000 donation from convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein before he died in August. MIT has hired Goodwin Procter to investigate the links between Epstein and the school.

Purdue University general counsel Steven Schultz said the school has a new donor policy that includes a "protection of reputation" clause, which allows the school to take away the naming rights associated with donation.

Bill Stanczykiewicz, assistant dean for external relations at the Fund Raising School at the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, said there should be a policy set in place addressing reputational harm before donations are accepted.

"Once the fundraising campaign starts, the pressure is on to meet goals. Putting limiters in place before we start can help if something comes along that is contradictory to our values," Stanczykiewicz said.

Paying High Fines Over Taxes

Last week, Google agreed to pay French finance authorities approximately 1 billion euros, or $1.1 billion, in back taxes and fines. The settlement ends a nearly five-year investigation over the tech giant failing to pay taxes in France. Google's European headquarters is in Ireland, and the company pays the lion's share of its taxes there.

The French finance minister said the settlement could set a precedent with other companies to settle their tax claims with the French government. He said the government was in talks with other companies, but did not name which companies were debating settlements.

"We continue to believe that the best way to provide a clear framework for companies that operate around the world is coordinated reform of the international tax system," a Google representative said when the settlement was announced.

What I've Been Reading

David Cambria, formerly the head of legal operations at Archer Daniels Midland who now serves as Baker McKenzie's director of legal operations, went to Asia recently to view the region's growth patterns, according to a report in the Asia Business Law Journal. He said in an interview that because of continued regulatory challenges companies are more open to legal operations. "With today's regulatory challenges and cost increases, legal departments are struggling to do more with less, so they are tapping into lawyers and professionals to help with data analytics, project management and pricing management," Cambria said.

In-house counsel and private practitioners in France support efforts to reform professional in-house privilege, according to a report in Commercial Dispute Resolution. Because of certain regulations in other jurisdictions, in-house counsel in France do not enjoy the same privilege as their outside counsel. The chief legal officer of Bookings.com, Maria Rocha Barros, told the publication, "In-house counsel play key roles in helping European companies comply with the law. We are uniquely positioned to identify and address legal issues internally and uphold the highest ethical standards."

The general counsel at the University of North Georgia, Jenna Colvin, said she was proud of the university's efforts in protecting free speech, according to a report in The Gainesville Times. At a panel discussion at the university, she said there are several places where people can publicly express their ideologies. "It is important that students get to be exposed to a broad range of ideas in their classrooms, in the community (and) on campus. Sometimes those ideas might be different than what they have had previous exposure to, but that's part of what happens here," Colvin said.

Don't Miss

Wednesday, Sept. 25 to Thursday, Sept. 26 – Corporate Counsel will be hosting its annual General Counsel Conference at the New York Marriott Marquis. Speakers this year include Peter Gyr, global general counsel of wealth management at JP Morgan Wealth Management; Graham Luce, general counsel at BJ's Wholesale Club; and Megan Ryan, general counsel at NuHealth.

Monday, Oct. 7 – American University Washington College of Law is hosting a Corporate Counsel as Business Leaders event from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Topics will include the GCs positioning as part of the C-suite, the regulation of GCs and in-house counsel and views on GC and legal/business ethics.

Monday, Oct. 14 to Wednesday, Oct. 16 – The Minority Corporate Counsel Association will be hosting its Creating Pathways to Diversity Conference in New York at the New York Hilton Midtown. The MCCA will host a Diversity Gala on the last night of the conference at the American Museum of Natural History.

On The Move

✦ G/O Media ✦ Kai Falkenberg has been named the next general counsel of the media company. She has previously served as the deputy commissioner of the New York City Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment.

✦ FedEx ✦ Connie Lensing announced she is leaving after 30 years with the package delivery company and begin working at Bradley Arant Boult Cummings. She first joined the company as an in-house attorney and rose to become senior vice president responsible for all U.S. litigation.

✦ Cetera ✦ David Greene, who formerly worked as the head of FINRA in Los Angeles, has become the general counsel at the financial company. Greene will replace Brian A. Stern who will leave the company at the end of the year after helping with the transition.