Corporate Lawyers Jettisoning Board Seats

by E DI TO RS  on FEBRUARY 5, 2006

Public companies may be losing their ability to pull

directors from a highly-qualified talent pool:

"In his WSJ.com The FLaw column, Ashby Jones details

the trend of law firms discouraging their lawyers from
serving on public company boards of directors, due to the
risk of shareholder suits or SEC investigations.

Larry Sonsini, the head of Palo Alto’s Wilson Sonsini

Goodrich Rosati and perhaps the country’s best-known
tech lawyer, tells us he’s “giving in” and that, by year end,
he’ll be off nearly all the boards upon which he currently
serves. Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld — home of
boardroom veterans Robert Strauss and Vernon Jordan —
has decided to “strongly discourage” its lawyers from
sitting on corporate boards."