The Lawyers Weekly - In House Counsel, Spring 2012

Publisher

Julie Murtha

editor in Chief Rob Kelly

In-house Counsel editor Matthew Grace

Contributing editor Adam Malik

art Director
Tammy Leung

Teamwork leads to the top

Copy editors
Brian Christmas
Chris Young

Mario Andretti may have been as good at articu- lating the drive for vic- tory as he was with ne-
gotiating his Lotus 79 race car through
a chicane at 200 kilometres an hour:
“Desire is the key to motivation, but it’s
determination and commitment to an
unrelenting pursuit of your goal — a com-
mitment to excellence — that will enable
you to attain the success you seek.”
Translating that wisdom from the
whiteboard to the blacktop is quite anoth-
er matter. Andretti — who won the Indy
500, Daytona 500 and Formula 1 champi-
onship — would be the first to admit that
achieving those legendary results requires
a lot more than what happens in a race
car cockpit or, for that matter, the corner
office. It takes teamwork. “I expect that
whomever is in front after that final pit
stop will win the race. That means your
pit crew has to be flawless in that last stop.
If you pull out of the pits with the lead,
you’ll be very, very hard to pass. At that
point, it’s yours to lose.”
Christopher Guly’s top story in this
issue touches on those themes. In his
article about the life of corporate coun-
sel, Barry Fisher, SAP Canada’s vice-
president, general counsel and corporate
secretary, discusses the importance of
avoiding accidents by likening his role
to being in a car race. He, too, cites the
importance of having a pit crew working
co-operatively toward a common goal.

In a pit crew, like a well-run company, everyone knows his or her role and how

it relates to shared objectives. They have a job that must be done fast and in co-ordination with the rest of the team. According to autorevolution.com, there are no fewer than 19 mechanics in a Formula 1 pit crew.

No matter how well a team works, however, wrecks do occur. Consider Niko Resources. Last year, the Calgary-based oil and gas company admitted to bribing a foreign government minister, and agreed to fines of nearly $9.5-mil- lion. As with Niko and other examples in this issue, hindsight often reveals that a problem could have been avoided if the company was working well across departments in addressing legal problems before the pileup.

Yet, no matter how proactive, most legal departments will need outside help at some point. From day-to-day transactional work to unexpected disasters, in-house legal departments must know how to build strong and efficient relationships. Guly’s story looks at a variety of ways in which the relationships between in-house legal departments and outside counsel can be built, maintained and evaluated.

And so as the spring unfolds and the auto racing seasons shifts into higher gear, perhaps another nugget of wisdom from Mario Andretti is in order: “If everything seems under control, you’re just not going fast enough.”

Matthew Grace Focus Editor, The Lawyers Weekly

Contributors
Karen Alexiou, Michael Benedict,
Luigi Benetton, Chris Guly, Brian Maude,
Donalee Moulton, Paul Paton, Eric Swetsky

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Marlene Roopsingh

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Cover Illustration

CJ Burton | Corbis

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THE LAWYERS WEEKLY

VOL. 22,NO. 27 NEWSFORTHELEGALPROFESSION DECEMBER6,2002 COPYRIGHT/TRADEMARK

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