General counsel

A general counsel or chief legal officer (CLO) is the chief lawyer of a legal department, usually in a company or a governmental department.

In a company, the person holding the position typically reports directly to the CEO, and their duties involve overseeing and identifying the legal issues in all departments and their interrelation, including engineering, design, marketing, sales, distribution, credit, finance, human resources, production, as well as corporate governance and business policy. This would naturally require in most cases reporting directly to the owner or CEO overseeing the very business on which the CLO is expected to be familiar with and advise on the most confidential level. This requires the CLO/general counsel to work closely with each of the other officers, and their departments, to appropriately be aware and advise.

Historically, general counsel often handled administrative tasks while outside lawyers in private practice handled more complex legal work. Since the 1980s, however, the general counsel position has become increasingly prominent in multinational companies, often directly advising the board of directors in place of outside lawyers. General counsel are now often among the most highly paid executives of major American corporations, and prominent American government lawyers and law firm partners are often hired for general counsel roles at prominent companies. Similar trends are also being seen in the United Kingdom and other countries.

General officer

A general officer is an officer of high rank in the army, and in some nations' air forces or marines.

The term "general" is used in two ways: as the generic title for all grades of general officer and as a specific rank. It originates in the 16th century, as a shortening of captain general, which rank was taken from Middle French capitaine général. The adjective general had been affixed to officer designations since the late medieval period to indicate relative superiority or an extended jurisdiction.

Today, the title of "General" is known in some countries as a four-star rank. However different countries use different systems of stars for senior ranks. It has a NATO code of OF-9 and is the highest rank currently in use in a number of armies.

General officer ranks

The various grades of general officer are at the top of the military rank structure. Lower-ranking officers in land-centric military forces are typically known as field officers or field-grade officers, and below them are company-grade officers.

Marsh & McLennan Companies

Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. is a global professional services firm with headquarters in New York City.

Marsh & McLennan Companies was also ranked 29th on the 2012 Bloomberg Businessweek 50, the magazine's annual ranking of the S&P 500's top 50 performing companies.

History

Burroughs, Marsh & McLennan was formed by Henry W. Marsh and Donald R. McLennan in Chicago in 1905. It was renamed as Marsh & McLennan in 1906.

The reinsurance firm Guy Carpenter & Company is acquired in 1923 a year after its founding by Guy Carpenter. In 1975, it acquired the human resources consulting firm Mercer. In 1997, it bought Johnson & Higgins, shortly after, it bought Sedgwick. In 2003, it purchased the consultancy business Oliver, Wyman & Company and merged these with some of the consultancy businesses from previous acquisitions, particularly the Mercer business under the brand name of Oliver Wyman.

In August 2007, Marsh completed the sale of its Putnam Investments division to Great-West Lifeco Inc., a financial services holding company controlled by Canada-based Power Financial Corp. after it settled charges of market timing.