Should an in-house legal department include attorneys with specialized expertise?
Godfrey: A well organized legal department will have a broad range of specialized expertise. At FINA our legal department included legal experts in all the areas where we could justify a full time lawyer. ERISA compliance is an example of an area in which we relied on outside counsel. We didn’t need a full-time benefits specialist. Our in-house staff included a sophisticated tax practitioner and CPA, an environmental regulatory specialist and a number of other specialists in areas of the law that were applicable to FINA’s business. Because of the importance of the company’s SEC compliance, as general counsel I developed sufficient knowledge of accounting principles and FASB regulations to recognize potential compliance issues. This knowledge was also necessary for my meetings with the auditors to review the company’s legal position and the accuracy of any disclosure filings we were about to make. Without a reasonable understanding of FASB regulations and accounting, I could not have do
