AIG’s GC Reflects on Bailouts, the Crisis and Time-Management

One day after the election, after numerous send offs including cocktails with the board of directors earlier this week, Tom Russo officially retired as AIG’s general counsel.

“I have seen a lot, learned a lot, and contributed somewhat,” Russo, 73,wrote in an internal email sent out last week.

In around 350 words, he expressed gratitude to his colleagues at AIG and optimism about the company, then looked back at what he’d learned in his prior position — as chief legal officer at Lehman Brothers during its failure in September 2008.

“After the Lehman event I wondered about a lot of things including, of ...