One of the most important internal relationships for an in-house Legal Department is with the Human Resources team.  Much of the HR department’s day-to-day work directly involves legal issues and analysis.  Likewise, some of the nastiest and “headline-grabbing” litigation involves employees and their claims alleging mistreatment, discrimination, malfeasance, etc.  Regardless of whether there is any merit to such claims, these disputes tend to be very public and can negatively impact your company’s brand and reputation (along with economic consequences in the event the company pays a settlement or loses in court).  That’s why it is very important that Legal and HR closely cooperate and align on how to best protect the company from employment-related issues.  Working together, one plus one can add up to three.

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