In-House Counsel, Outside Help

Who handles your company’s legal issues?

Many Twin Cities businesses have staff lawyers that handle issues surrounding intellectual property, government contracting, employment law, and union relationships. “In-house staff makes sense if you get a large amount of repetitive, same, or similar work, where it is cost effective for you to build in-house expertise to cover that need,” says Steve Tourek, senior vice president and general counsel at Warroad-based Marvin Companies, which owns Marvin Windows and Doors.

In-house lawyers are also readily available. “If you have a business model that dictates contracts, having internal counsel is really important,” says Rich Faber, vice president and chief financial officer at Vision-Ease Lens, an eyeglass-lens manufacturer in Ramsey. “You don’t want to lose business because you don’t have quick turnaround.”

If 95 percent of civil litigation is settled, having local counsel who is known by and knows opposing counsel facilitates negotiating an informal resolution to a dispute.

But company attorneys must sometimes work with external counsel due to factors that include expertise, workload, location, availability, objectivity, and speed. “Our goal is to provide the best and highest quality legal service to our client, the company, for the best value,” says Ann Marie Hanrahan, an assistant general counsel for St. Paul–based 3M Company. “That might mean seeking outside help, and it might mean doing it in house.”

Indeed, 3M and other Minnesota companies develop legal teams and apportion their legal work by exercising all the available options.

Outside In

Despite the advantages, some firms choose not to hire in-house attorneys. Faber, for instance, sees the value in the availability of in-house staff but notes that “we don’t have that kind of business.” As a result, Vision-Ease uses outside lawyers for all of   its legal needs, a choice that Faber says has forced the company to be more thoughtful about outsourced projects. “People think a little harder about whether they really need legal help,” Faber says.