Case Study: Manufacturing Legal Department Secondment

The Client

Large manufacturing company with 3,000+ employees worldwide.

Executive Summary

Our client's general counsel left the role without having a clear succession plan in place. While our In-House Practice Group colleagues conducted a search for a permanent replacement, ourInterim Legal Talent group identified an interim general counsel who could step into the role and lead the company's legal function.

The Challenges

The general counsel left our client company for another position. Unfortunately, our client did not have a clear successor in place, and they were faced with a number of major deals and initiatives that needed to be handled by someone with a high level of expertise and experience. They needed someone with strong public-company experience to step in and lead their legal team until they could find a permanent replacement.

The Approach

Major, Lindsey & Africa's In-House Practice Group was retained to lead the search for a permanent replacement and uncovered the interim need during the early stages of that search. Our client had originally engaged one of our competitors to assist with identifying an interim GC, but our client was dissatisfied with the early candidates and process. Our Interim Legal Talent group was then asked to step in and take over.

Working together with our In-House Practice Group colleagues, we explored the need, putting a particular focus on the specific matters the company needed to handle in the next one to three months as a secondment service. We then worked together to source and screen highly qualified candidates across the country, focusing on current and former public company GCs.

The Solution

We presented five top-notch candidates, all with strong public company GC experience and leadership credentials. From there, three candidates were interviewed by the client, and our successful candidate accepted his offer immediately. All together, the candidate was screened, selected and on-boarded within approximately 3.5 weeks.

Our candidate is currently serving as interim GC, leading the legal department and advising the board and executive leadership. He is plugged in on multiple deals and initiatives and has already played a pivotal role in board meetings.

The Results

Having a contract-based, interim GC has allowed the company to feel confident that its legal function is fully operational and under proper supervision, without having to shoulder additional outside counsel spend. Further, it has taken the pressure off of the company's leadership to find a long-term replacement immediately, allowing them to take the time to find the perfect fit.

At present, our In-House Practice Group is continuing the search for a new general counsel, and our interim candidate is a strong candidate for the full-time position.