Top GE Lawyer Reflects on 11 Years as General Counsel

Brackett Denniston, the general counsel of General Electric, recalls the day in the late 1990s when he was offered a job as the top lawyer of Gillette.

At the time, he held the role of GE’s Vice President and Senior Counsel for Litigation and Legal Policy and the Gillette position would have meant a promotion.

“I went to Jack’s office and he was whistling a tune — the job was in Boston — and he was whistling, ‘Goin’ Home.’ ... He was from Boston, too,” Denniston said exactly one day after announcing his retirement from GE.

It marked an ending to ...