Roll-your-own methods to obtain knowledgeable lawyers in a specialty area

UPS’s law department has working for a number of former operations personnel now practicing law, because the company paid for them to attend law school and pass the bar (See my post of Jan. 25, 2007 on UPS.). From CanadianLawyer InHouse, Vol. 1, April 2006 at 18, here’s another technique for self-help when its hard to hire good talent.

The Dutch-based international bank ABN Amro has had a tough time finding qualified lawyers who do derivatives law. To fill the void, the department created a formal program to train its own finance lawyers based in Hong Kong, London and New York on derivatives law. "To help make it happen, the Bank contracted with Clifford Chance, a UK based law firm, to do the training reportedly at a cut-rate price. Good for the law department; good for the firm.