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An example of a law department structured around areas of expertise

Freddie Mac has in its Legal Division 175 people, which is comprised of approximately 95 lawyers. According to an interview of Robert Bostrom, its General Counsel, in Met. Corp. Counsel, Vol. 15, Oct. 2007 at 21, that legal group is organized “around areas of expertise rather than functional lines or business units.” (See my post of Dec. 14, 2005 on “functional” reporting; March 28, 2006 on PPG’s former functional reporting by legal specialty; Dec. 23, 2005 on Royal Dutch Shell’s three levels of assignments; and March 1, 2006 with my stab at a definition of “functional.”).

Maybe “areas of expertise” has common ground with “core competencies” (See my post of June 4, 2007 for nine references to such competencies.). Even without know precisely what Bostrom means by “areas of expertise,” I have reservations about them as an organizing, structural foundation.

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