US conglomerate General Electric (GE) is looking to expand its legal teams in Europe and Asia, general counsel Brackett Denniston has announced.

At Legal Week's inaugural e-symposium conference last Wednesday (22 November), Denniston said the company would be hiring M&A, litigation, employment, intellectual property and securities lawyers outside its US headquarters and specifically in Europe and Asia.

The announcement is significant as more than 70% of GE's worldwide legal team is currently based in the US. That figure looks set to fall as the company increases its emphasis on its overseas operations. At present GE's European and Asian legal focus is in the company's GE money, corporate and commercial finance businesses. About a fifth of the company's 1,300 lawyers practise in these areas.

Denniston highlighted the importance of hiring the best local lawyers from regional talent pools.

He said: "GE revolutionised the way that people were hired. Historically we used to hire straight from law school and see our lawyers advance up through the ranks. Now our credo is to hire the best and we attract superior partner-level talent to drive change."

He also pointed to the importance of in-house lawyers' role in protecting companies' reputation and compliance, saying: "Protecting the reputation of your company is more important now that it has ever been, with more than 40% of company's stock value declining in the wake of controversy. Lawyers need to be credible business leaders and protect their organisation."

GE is one of the world's largest companies with more than 300,000 employees worldwide and annual revenues of $134bn (£72bn). Denniston has been GE's general counsel since replacing Ben Heineman in 2004.