Devoted to Corporate Attorneys, Corporate Lawyers, and Corporate Counsel

The following is not meant to be legal advice.

On March 30, 2007, Thomas W. Kintner, Senior Corporate Counsel, Cisco Systems was a speaker in Burlingame, CA on corporate legal ethics.

The general counsel of a company should control the internal legal terms such as the promotion, compensation of the legal team.  This is unlike in Enron, where some of the attorneys did not report to the general counsel, but to business units. 

The training had discussions on the EU data protection laws.  There is a violation of privacy laws if employee data is transferred from an EU member state to the United States without the employee’s consent such as in the imaging of an employee’s laptop for an investigation.

The speaker advised that it takes many years for an attorney to build a reputation.  The attorney should not ruin the reputation quickly with poor judgment.  Maintain calm when there is a crisis.  When people are under stress, they tend to react badly.  The speaker advised on resources such as ethics hotlines with the state bar.