US general counsel not on the Board, but usually onboard as Secretary

A previous post refers to data about the aspirations of UK general counsel to belong formally to their companies’ boards of directors (See my post of Nov. 12, 2007.). In the United States, few general counsel are members of the Board, but they attend almost all meetings, in part because they are the corporate secretary and responsible for such duties as minutes and the logistics of the Board (See my posts of Oct. 2, 2006 on the general counsel assuming this responsibility; and April 12, 2006 for three-quarters of US GCs being the corporate secretary.).

This blog has commented on other aspects of the “company secretary,” as the British call them (See my posts of March 17, 2007 for a law firm that fills that role; Feb. 14, 2007, and July 19, 2006 for vendors of related services; April 13, 2007 on reporting lines and Aug. 27, 2005 for separate functions at Cadbury-Schweppes; Nov. 1, 2005 about the necessity of that title; March 9, 2007 for a position description; as well as Aug. 9, 2006, Jan. 24, 2006, and April 22, 2007 for comments on specialized software for the function.).