Features Legal Visionaries

In 2014, before he’d even finished decorating the office, Tom McCabe sat down with Dave Thompson, the CEO of his new employer, Orbital Sciences, for his first major assignment: helping the $1.3 billion defense contractor acquire rocket parts maker ATK, a company three times Orbital’s size. Following months of legal legwork, Orbital was able to […]

There’s a startup feel at Zurich North America Life’s headquarters in New York City, where Patrick J. Carty’s responsibilities as general counsel seem to evolve daily. Zurich North America Life is part of the 146-year- old Zurich Insurance Group headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland. In 2010, Zurich expanded its well established and respected 108-year-old property casualty […]

As general counsel for the North American operations of the global confectionery heavyweight Ferrero, Beth M. Kotran has literally achieved—well almost—what she had so aspired to after leaving private practice in 2002. “I was focused on one piece of a bigger pie,” she tells Vanguard from her office in Parsippany, New Jersey. “I wanted to […]

Ten years ago, well into her tenure as chief legal counsel for Heineken USA, Julie Kinch helped launch a company-wide women’s leadership forum. What began with six people in a Chicago conference room has, in the decade since, grown to include more than 120 members from throughout Heineken’s ranks—male and female, millennials and boomers, executives […]

Amidst the cacophony of the national health insurance debate—over who pays what and how; and of when liability comes into play—one voice always seems drowned in the din: that of practitioners providing the care. It’s a conundrum Erin Bagley knows only too well. As general counsel for Coverys, a medical professional liability insurer headquartered in […]

Like many young lawyers in firms, Ron Palmese was mindful of his professional growth being limited by having to concentrate on a specific area of practice and thus not being exposed to the big picture for a client. Much as he enjoyed transactional law, Palmese didn’t feel satisfied enough with his level of involvement in […]

Lisa Gressel knew what a big fire looked like. Truth be told, during her 30 years as a general counsel, she’d put out more than a few. Fires so big she can’t even talk about them. These were smaller than that—much smaller. A manager who left without telling his replacement about the patio furniture in […]

It’s always buyer beware in the used-car market, but it’s been especially so since autumn 2017 when hundreds of thousands of vehicles were soaked by Texas and Florida floodwaters following Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria. Many of them could wind up for sale all over the country. Their appearances notwithstanding, it’s what’s under the hood […]