Internal Organization of the Legal Department

Abstract

The complexity of modern life and the fast growing number of laws and regulations make it indispensable for companies of small or moderate size to be informed and advised on legal questions. This legal service is normally performed by outside counsel. Very often, out of a close contact with outside counsel, it becomes necessary to have legal advice instantly available, and this is the beginning of a law department. It starts in general with one lawyer. This one man legal department usually attempts to handle only routine minor matters and to give general advice.¹ There are various estimates as to the number of employees in a company which justifies the employment of a ‘resident’ attorney. One estimate concludes that any manufacturer with 200 to 800 employees can support and should have a house counsel. This is admittedly a generality and the number of employees alone will not determine the size of the legal department. The determining factors are the type of business as well as the country in which the business operates.² But a reasonable estimate for a manufacturer in a highly industrialized (and therefore highly regulated) West European country is one attorney for each one thousand members of the workforce.