When General Counsels Return to Law Firms

Brackett Denniston, who sat at the helm of General Electric’s law department for 11 years, is rejoining his old law firm Goodwin Procter. But one thing should be clear: his return to the law firm where he started as an associate in 1974 will not involve drumming up GE business for the firm’s 900 lawyers, he said in an interview.

“I have been very clear, just as my predecessor was clear, that I’m not going to chase business with the company that I served,” said Denniston, “and no one here should have any illusion about that. I wouldn’t have come back ...