Behind the Columbia Initiative: An Enduring General Counsel/CEO Bond
An inside look into the Columbia in-house counsel program and one their two leaders Andrew Hendry.
March 30, 2020 at 10:00 AM
3 minute read
Behind the Columbia in-house counsel program lies a powerful bond between Reuben Mark, the former CEO of Colgate-Palmolive Co., and his general counsel for 16 years, Andrew [Andy] Hendry.
The two men formed a highly successful partnership in which they made strategic business, legal and ethical decisions together. Reflecting on this partnership led Mark to ask the Columbia Business School to expand his initiative into a joint venture with the law school.
Hendry feels honored that his friend included him. "From the day I walked in the door at Colgate, [Mark] was extraordinarily supportive," Hendry recalls. "It was a very healthy, back and forth, kind of partnership. At the end of the day he always called the shots, but he took my views into account and we usually ended up at the same place."
Hendry says Mark brought him in on the Columbia project from the beginning to help hammer out the goals. The former general counsel continues as a member of a working roundtable made up of professionals and academics from various points in their careers and from a range of industries. This roundtable continues to shape the initiative's future.
The program, Hendry says, could make Columbia Law School a real thought leader in the in-house counsel world.
One concept he hopes the program tackles is what he calls short-termism in America—that a corporation's first duty to shareholders is to maximize short term profits.
"That is a very sad turn in corporate governance in America," Hendry says. "There have been many corporate failures [and] it's clear that these companies that once were hallmarks of America were floundering because not much was done to build and protect the business in the long term."
Retired since 2015 and living in Pinehurst, North Carolina, Hendry serves as a commissioner on the state's Criminal Justice Education and Training Standards Commission, and as an adviser on the compliance risk management project for the American Law Institute.
Before joining Colgate, he had served nine years as general counsel at Unisys in Detroit and Philadelphia, and three years as a corporate attorney at Reynolds Metals Co. in Virginia. Hendry says when he left the New York law firm Battle Fowler (now part of Paul Hastings) in 1979 to first go in-house at Reynolds, "it was a different world and all my friends told me I was crazy. That has all changed now."
Now, he says, in-house law departments "are the equal of, and in some cases better than, fine quality law firms."
Increasingly talented lawyers want to work in corporate legal departments, he adds, "and Columbia is preparing students for that reality."
Hendry adds, "I hear it (the initiative) is bringing the law and business schools closer. And that's a good thing, too."
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View AllFormer Rutgers Law School Dean Replaces Hoffman as University General Counsel on Interim Basis
4 minute readAs Student Workers Unionize in Droves, NLRB Tries to Prevent Colleges' Privacy Concerns From Slowing Momentum
5 minute readDemise of Chevron Deference Likely Played a Major Role in Successful Title IX Challenges, Experts Say
4 minute readHarvard Hires Ex-Defense Department GC as Legal Chief at Tumultuous Time
3 minute readLaw Firms Mentioned
Trending Stories
- 1Regulatory Upheaval Is Coming. How Businesses Prepare and Respond Will Separate Winners and Losers
- 2Cravath Elevates 7 to Partnership, Up From Last Year
- 3Kline & Specter Hit With Lawsuit From Another Former Associate
- 4USPTO Director Kathi Vidal Announces Resignation Ahead of Administration Change
- 5As Gen AI Acceptance Grows, Lawyers Race to Mitigate Risks
Who Got The Work
Michael G. Bongiorno, Andrew Scott Dulberg and Elizabeth E. Driscoll from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have stepped in to represent Symbotic Inc., an A.I.-enabled technology platform that focuses on increasing supply chain efficiency, and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The case, filed Oct. 2 in Massachusetts District Court by the Brown Law Firm on behalf of Stephen Austen, accuses certain officers and directors of misleading investors in regard to Symbotic's potential for margin growth by failing to disclose that the company was not equipped to timely deploy its systems or manage expenses through project delays. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton, is 1:24-cv-12522, Austen v. Cohen et al.
Who Got The Work
Edmund Polubinski and Marie Killmond of Davis Polk & Wardwell have entered appearances for data platform software development company MongoDB and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The action, filed Oct. 7 in New York Southern District Court by the Brown Law Firm, accuses the company's directors and/or officers of falsely expressing confidence in the company’s restructuring of its sales incentive plan and downplaying the severity of decreases in its upfront commitments. The case is 1:24-cv-07594, Roy v. Ittycheria et al.
Who Got The Work
Amy O. Bruchs and Kurt F. Ellison of Michael Best & Friedrich have entered appearances for Epic Systems Corp. in a pending employment discrimination lawsuit. The suit was filed Sept. 7 in Wisconsin Western District Court by Levine Eisberner LLC and Siri & Glimstad on behalf of a project manager who claims that he was wrongfully terminated after applying for a religious exemption to the defendant's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The case, assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anita Marie Boor, is 3:24-cv-00630, Secker, Nathan v. Epic Systems Corporation.
Who Got The Work
David X. Sullivan, Thomas J. Finn and Gregory A. Hall from McCarter & English have entered appearances for Sunrun Installation Services in a pending civil rights lawsuit. The complaint was filed Sept. 4 in Connecticut District Court by attorney Robert M. Berke on behalf of former employee George Edward Steins, who was arrested and charged with employing an unregistered home improvement salesperson. The complaint alleges that had Sunrun informed the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection that the plaintiff's employment had ended in 2017 and that he no longer held Sunrun's home improvement contractor license, he would not have been hit with charges, which were dismissed in May 2024. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer, is 3:24-cv-01423, Steins v. Sunrun, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Greenberg Traurig shareholder Joshua L. Raskin has entered an appearance for boohoo.com UK Ltd. in a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The suit, filed Sept. 3 in Texas Eastern District Court by Rozier Hardt McDonough on behalf of Alto Dynamics, asserts five patents related to an online shopping platform. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, is 2:24-cv-00719, Alto Dynamics, LLC v. boohoo.com UK Limited.
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250