AbbVie CLO Wants Lawyers ‘Actively Engaged’ with Outside Firms

AbbVie Inc.’s Chief Legal Officer Laura Schumacher makes sure the in-house counsel who work under her serve as architects of outside counsel strategies and drivers of results, rather than mere connectors between law department and law firm.

“If your only job was reporting to me what outside counsel thinks, I can replace you with a phone,” Schumacher said. “I expect all of my lawyers to be so actively engaged that not only are they partnering with a firm, they have their own points of view and, hopefully, they’re aligned with the outside law firm.”

Bloomberg Law is conducting a ...