The Legal Department of a Company - Essay Example

The legal department is the core of our organization and, indeed, is deeply involved in the activities of most departments, serving both to guide andto counsel. As one would assume the case to be with any organization involved in research, development, manufacturing, business to business sales and post-sales services, not only are their contracts to fulfill and intellectual property issues to contend with but the IT department has, twice in the past year, been at the forefront of legal cases. To further illustrate the centrality of legal policies and issues, hence the legal department, to the organization's overall and general activities, this essay will define a number of legal terms in relation to the organization's activities. Contracts and the organization's ability to fulfill them are intrinsic to its business survival. As Adoranti (2006) explains, business to business and commercial contracts explicitly define the obligations of sellers and buyers. This includes the specifications of the contacted for products/services, their quality and time/place of delivery. The violation of contractual obligations, on either side, can be cause for the invalidation of the contract and grounds for the payment of financial penalties (Adoranti, 2006). As our organization's legal councilor emphasized, the binding form of contracts implies that it is incumbent upon the organization to ensure that a contract works in its favor and not against it. Hence, within the context of our organization, the policy is that no sales contract is signed prior to the formulation of an inter-departmental business plan which details how the organization will fulfill the contract and whether, indeed, it can. Only following a thorough review of this plan does the legal department authorize the signature of the contract. The regulations which the legal department has imposed upon contractual commitments are an outcome of prior negative experiences. Two years ago an overenthusiastic sales department committed the company to the supply of more than it could produce within a specified time period. As the Sales Director had the authority to conclude contracts, the outcome was the overextension of corporate resources in a bid to satisfy its contractual obligations and, ultimately, a failure to meet the time of delivery, resulting in the imposition of fines upon the company. This incident, as the corporate legal councilor informed me, instigated a revision of corporate policy, whereby contracts could only be entered into following inter-departmental meetings and the formulation of business plans which outline strategies for the fulfillment of contractual obligations. Contracts, however, do not represent the extent of the legal department's involvement in corporate and business processes and relations. Indeed, one of the department's primary concerns is employee relations, the implementation of corporate policy and the assurance of adherence. Insofar as the aforementioned is concerned, Poole (2004) identifies it as one of the more important of any corporate legal department's responsibilities, comparable to the implementation of law and order. As such, the legal department governs/supervises employee relations and ensures adherence to a specific code of conduct. This code of conduct extends to company-related behavior following the termination of the employee-employer relation. For example, in the event of an employee's dismissal for non performance of job related responsibilities, he/she is, as per the employment contract signed, warned against both defaming the company and exposing company business secrets. This, as the legal councilor advised me, was standard practice in most organizations but, without doubt, one of the more important of the legal department's responsibilities as it involved the safeguarding of the company from disgruntled former employees. The protection of the company against defamation, not just by former employees but by competitors and the media consumes much of the legal department's time. It necessitates a close reading of both online and print media reports relevant to the company and an analysis of competitor advertisements and statements. While this sounds somewhat excessive, Poole (20040 explains that not only is it standard practice but necessary insofar as it allows a company to instantaneously react to any hints of defamation and, in so doing, limit potential damages to the company's image. Evidently, our corporate legal councilor concurs and, as such, has one department employee sift through relevant reports twice per week. Also relevant to the protection of the company against negative publicity, is the policy adopted vis--vis employee criminal activities. If an employee is accused of violating the law, corporate policy dictates an obligation of immediate reporting the legal department. If, following a review of the case facts the department has reasonable belief in the employee's innocence, the department assumes control of his/her defense. If, however, the evidence points to the contrary, the department and the company distance themselves from the case and, upon conviction, terminate the employee's contract with the company. According to De Cuyper (2005) the aforementioned is standard practice, largely motivated by the imperatives of the company's protecting its public image. Interestingly, over the past twelve months, the two criminal violations committed by company employees involved the IT department. In the first, one of the IT department employees has, using the corporate network, posted a highly defamatory comment about a former girlfriend on a Yahoo message board. Apparently, or at least according to Powers (2004), this is not at all uncommon. Internet message boards have become a medium for the defamation of others (Powers, 2004). The employee was, according to the company's legal consultant, traced through the ISP provider and subsequently accused of violating anti-defamation laws. The case was settled out of court and the employee was made to pay a fine. He was not terminated as the company did not deem the violation to be such that would negatively impact the corporation's public image. The second case was infinitely more serious as it involved cyberfraud. As defined by Powers (2004), cyberfraud is the act of defrauding others through the internet. In this instance, the employee had set up a fake identity and advertised computer programming services on a freelance website. He received payment in return for the delivery of software programs but did not deliver and indeed, never responded to clients once they paid. Following nineteen such incidents and $32,000, he closed his profile on the website. He was traced, however, convicted of cyberfraud and terminated by the company. This essay, which is by no means exhaustive, establishes the centrality of the legal department to corporate affairs, policy and governance of employee behavior. Indeed, the legal department, and as effectively evidenced through the above, is integral to the safeguarding of the company's interests and welfare. Bibliography Adoranti, F. (2006) The Manager's Guide to Understanding Commercial Contracts. New York: Global Professional Publishing. De Cuyper, N. (2005) Employment Contracts and Well-Being Among European Workers. New York: Ashgate. Poole, J. (2004) Textbook on Contract Law. Oxford: Oxford UP. Powers, D.M. (2004) Cyberlaw: The Major Areas, Development, and Information Security Aspects. Read More