More lawyers in the boardroom

Here's another innovation for which we can thank SOX and securities litigation: more lawyers in the boardroom.  To add to the company's inside and outside counsel, now independent directors are bringing in their own lawyers.  Here's a Law.com article, HT PoL.

Let's hope they keep a little space and time for the business people.

Comments

[AnonCorpLawyer]

Norm Veasey had a good article in a prior issue of the Business Lawyer arguing against lawyers for independent directors. In my experience, it sometimes creates adversarial friction between regular/in-house counsel and the indep directors' counsel (who have to do something to earn their fees).

[Darian Ibrahim]

This proliferation of lawyers in the boardroom is one reason I argued against assessing due care liability on a director-by-director basis (and instead argued for a collective assessment) under state law. See Darian M. Ibrahim, Individual or Collective Liability for Corporate Directors?, 93 Iowa L. Rev. 929, 964-65 (2008). I didn’t look at securities law, however, so I’m curious as to whether separate directors’ counsel is a rational move based on potential liability there that is not the primary concern of the company’s inside and outside counsel.