Based in Glasgow, Scotland, with North American headquarters in Houston, Aggreko provides modular, mobile power, heating and cooling from about 200 locations in 100 countries. It operates across all sectors, including oil and gas, petrochemical and refining, utilities, manufacturing, construction and mining.

David Bouchner is general counsel and company secretary for Aggreko North America.

Legal Team

Bouchner oversees a legal department with four attorneys, including himself, and a paralegal. Except for litigation, intellectual property, mergers and acquisitions and some labor, employment and benefits matters, “we handle most things, probably more than we should, in-house,” he said.

Outside Counsel

Bouchner said that most of Aggreko's litigation work is handled through insurers and the defense firms they use. In addition to local firms used in some states, Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart handles the company's L&E work. The department also has a long-standing relationship with Haynes and Boone, which does some IP work, and handles M&A as well as a few other types of matters.

Daily Duties

“It truly never looks the same every day,” said Bouchner, whose department handles the legal work for the United States, Canada, Mexico and Puerto Rico.

The day-to-day transactional work is split among the three attorneys who report to Bouchner based on the commercial sectors within the business they support, he said. In addition to overseeing that work, Bouchner is responsible for external-claims and litigation management, bankruptcy and collections, overall risk management, M&A and “all of the other things that happen to come in on a daily basis.” These duties, he added, may include supporting human resources and working internally on IP matters, though not necessarily the drafting of patent applications.

Route to the Top

After graduating from Syracuse University College of Law in 1992, Bouchner moved back to his home state of Connecticut and worked in private practice for about four years, where he did insurance defense and, later, banking, real estate and Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. receiver work.

In 1996, he moved to a firm in Louisiana, where he continued his business law practice before moving to a specialized tax estate planning and business development firm.

In 2001, Bouchner joined Aggreko as its first in-house lawyer globally, though his responsibilities have always been limited to the North American business.

“The responsibility and value that legal has brought to the organization, both in North America and among my global counterparts, just continues to grow,” he said.

Personal

Bouchner and his wife of 25 years have two children: a 20-year-old son and 16-year-old daughter. In addition to the arts, he said he enjoys spending time with family and friends.

Favorite Book

“Unbroken,” by Laura Hillenbrand, the true-life story of former Olympic runner and American airman Louis Zamperini, who endured years of starvation, imprisonment and brutality after a plane he was piloting disappeared into the Pacific Ocean during World War II.