EMC GC Says Tech Giant Hasn’t Gotten Too Big

When Paul Dacier first joined EMC Corporation in 1990, the company was bringing in about $160 million in revenue, and Dacier was the company’s only full-time lawyer.

Today, EMC has more than 68,000 employees worldwide, and Dacier, who was named an executive vice president in 2006, oversees approximately 120 lawyers worldwide. Last year, the company brought in over $24 billion.

As EMC has grown in size, it’s also grown in complexity, acquiring significant holdings in other tech companies grouped together in an arrangement the company calls the EMC Federation .

Some shareholders, most notably hedge fund Elliott Management , say a number of member companies could make more money on their own, and have called for EMC to break up the federation.

In a recent interview with Big Law Business, Dacier said the company’s leaders have decided, for now, that it’s better to keep the company together, but that they’re committed to listening to input from shareholders.

One of the world’s largest tech companies in the world, EMC is focused on data storage, information security, data analytics, and cloud computing. EMC was founded in 1979 and is headquartered in Hopkinton, Massachusetts.

Dacier recently spoke to Big Law Business by phone about the EMC legal department and his work with outside law firms. Read Part I of the interview here .

Below is an edited transcript of the second installment of the interview.

[caption id="attachment_4840" align="alignleft” width="250"][Image “Paul Dacier (Courtesy of EMC Corporation)” (src=https://bol.bna.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Headshot-Dacier2.jpg)]Paul Dacier (Courtesy of EMC Corporation)[/caption]

Big Law Business: You mentioned expertise and teamwork. What else do you value in an outside lawyer?

Dacier: My overall philosophy is: expertise, efficiency, and then cost. My lawyers here — for example, in the intellectual property area — are true experts. In fact, in some instances, they’re ahead of most.

We all know the challenges and how to litigate cases, and because of our philosophy, we want to make sure that we act quickly. We use speed as a competitive advantage. We also streamline cases, and we’re very efficient at what we do. And then we’ll look at the cost. For the firms we work with, it’s never been an issue.

My lawyers here are true experts. In fact, in some instances, they’re ahead of most.

Big Law Business: EMC has been in the headlines recently because of some shareholders who want to break up the company. What’s your response to someone who says EMC’s corporate structure is too big, too complex?

Dacier: There are a number of aspects to your question. EMC is well-known for having a number of entities. Within that, there’s what we call theEMC Federation.As a manager and an executive, I’m constantly communicating with my team worldwide. I let them know what’s going on.

It’s generally known that we have some proposals in the press through some activist seeking to have EMC change its corporate structure. It does raise questions from our employees, including in my legal team, as to the company’s position on those matters.

We as a company are pretty vocal about the fact that, one, we’re always willing to talk to our shareholders, and that we have a very active board that’s constantly looking at the overall organization and makeup of the federation. They are very attuned to what the investor base is saying.

We hope the EU regulations don’t become so onerous it would cause us to materially revise our systems.

They, along with the management team, feel it’s appropriate to maintain the current structure as it is. When those decisions are made and communicated across, I communicate that with my team too.

Big Law Business: Would you like to see national cybersecurity legislation?

Dacier: Legislation is a tough thing. It depends on what it says. There is an amalgamation of laws on privacy issues and privacy breaches here in the United States. It would be better to have a more uniform set of standards.

We’d have to look at what the particular legislation is. I’m not sure we would encourage it unless it was streamlining the process. The most important thing I would say, from our experience, and the advice we had given our customers, is that you have to spend an inordinate amount of time on cybersecurity.

Big Law Business: Are you keeping your eye on what’s going on in Europe, with the General Data Protection Regulation?

Dacier: We’re well aware of what’s happening worldwide, and we’re well aware of the data privacy rules in Europe. We would hope that the pendulum would not swing such that these things were so onerous that it would cause us to materially revise our systems. I think that the processes and the procedures and security we have in place with most of the companies is more than adequate.

Big Law Business: Do you have a favorite Supreme Court Justice?

Dacier: I like John Roberts. I think the Chief has done an outstanding job. I believe he just celebrated his 10th anniversary as the chief. I think he has brought balance to the Court. I think he is clearly a leader and has had to weigh in on some very sticky situations.

I would also say that I’ve always admired Ruth Bader Ginsburg. I think she’s a real firecracker. I think she is very articulate and knows a lot, clearly. She does it right, and I think she’s got her fingers on the pulse as to what’s going on.