Oil Field Services GC Oversees Worldwide Legal Team

Legal team and outside counsel: Crain commands a worldwide legal group numbering more than 200, including 73 attorneys. One-third of the lawyers work in the contracts section. Litigation group members don’t try lawsuits themselves, but “manage them like an orchestra conductor,” Crain said. They “are not in the business to win suits,” but rather take a business-assessment standpoint; sometimes it is better to lose at trial than to pay a higher amount in a settlement, he said. The legal department works closely with Baker Hughes’ risk management group in regard to insurance matters. Crain oversees a deputy who focuses on mergers and acquisitions; other deputies handle labor and employment. Crain tries to maintain a balance between in-house legal work and using external counsel. Among the firms he turns to are Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld; Houston-based Baker Botts and Bracewell & Giuliani; Fulbright & Jaworski; Washington-based Howrey; and Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell.