Trimming Legal Department Makes Sense, Lear GC Says

Since the financial crisis, revenues at Lear Corporation have steadily grown. The law department? Not so much.

Bucking any trend towards bringing more legal work in house , Lear GC Terry Larkin said his law department has dropped from around 20 attorneys in 2006 to only 11 at present.

That reduction started under Larkin’s predecessor, Daniel Ninivaggi, but the decision to downsize continues to make sense and has been driven by a desire for flexibility in legal spend and an interest in using highly specialized attorneys.

Since taking over as GC in 2008, Larkin said he’s hired only a few attorneys: There are five in Detroit, two in Shanghai, two in ...