It’s a tough job, but someone has to do it. In December, Halliburton named Robb Voyles as its new general counsel. Voyles, former chair of the litigation department at Baker Botts, replaced Albert Cornelison, who had been head of the oil services company’s legal department since 2002. Cornelison, who will retire officially in April, is staying on for the time being to help with the transition.
Voyles certainly has his work cut out for him. Halliburton has more than 75,000 employees in approximately 80 countries. The firm’s recent history has been colorful, to say the least. And legal headaches have abounded. In the aftermath of the April 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill, a presidential commission held Halliburton partly accountable for the disaster. The company eventually pled guilty to charges that it destroyed evidence related to the spill.
