Daily Diary

‘Most of all, I’d like to thank my lawyer…’

Posted 4/03/2008 by The Daily Diary

Further proof (as if it were needed) of the increasingly star-spangled nature of corporate in-housery came last week from the very home of glamour – no, not the internal legal function at GlaxoSmithKline, but Hollywood in the good old US-of-A.

Ginger-topped Scots thespian Tilda Swinton scooped an Oscar last week for her portrayal of tough in-house lawyer Karen Crowder in George Clooney’s whistle-blowing legal drama Michael Clayton.

Crowder is the murderous general counsel of fictional US chemicals company U-North and has no qualms about adding some serious value to her business proposition (or whatever) by bumping off colleagues to further her employer’s interests. No wonder US heads of legal get such large bonuses.

Strangely, a tear-jerking extra scene in which Swinton laments the repercussions of the Akzo-Nobel ruling on in-house legal privilege remained on the cutting-room floor.