The legal department, the functions and features of the activity of which will be discussed later, is an independent structural unit. It is formed and liquidated on the basis of the order of the head of the company. Legal officers report directly to the director. The work order of the unit is determined in the Regulation. This local document establishes the rights and obligations of employees, the tasks of the legal department, the terms of reference and other essential conditions of activity. Let us further consider the features of the legal department at the enterprise.
General characteristics of the unit
The above Regulation defines the structure of the legal department. The unit is headed by an employee who is appointed by order of the director of the company. The head of the legal department may have deputies. Their number is determined by the Regulation and depends on the volume of work performed and the number of staff. The head of the legal department distributes duties between deputies and employees.
The main activities
What does the legal department do? The functions of the unit are as follows:
- Ensuring compliance with the requirements of legislative acts at the enterprise and protecting its interests. In the framework of this direction, the search, synthesis and analysis of regulatory acts necessary for the work of the company are carried out.
- Organization and maintenance of systematic accounting, storage of legal documents received by the enterprise.
- Acquisition and use of electronic databases of regulatory information.
- Accounting for local documents approved by the company.
- Subscription to official publications, including electronic ones, in which legal acts on labor, tax, economic, financial and other activities are published.
- Verification of compliance with legislative requirements of draft orders, regulations, instructions and other documents submitted for signature to the director. In the framework of this area, the competence of the head to issue the relevant act, the degree of need for coordination with the company’s divisions, and the correctness of references to standards are determined.
- Sight of projects that are compiled in accordance with established requirements.
- Checking the stages of coordination with the departments of the company.
- Return of draft documents without a visa to the departments that developed them. In this case, a written opinion is drawn up, which indicates provisions that are contrary to the norms, provides links to legal documents, instructions, etc.
- Monitoring the alignment of projects with the regulatory framework.
- Issuance to the heads of departments of instructions for amending or repealing acts that were issued in violation.
Contractual activity
Practice in the legal department of the organization is associated with the definition of forms of interaction with contractors, taking into account financial and production plans. In the framework of this activity, employees of the division submit proposals to the head of the enterprise on a possible option for establishing contractual relations. There are two ways to do this:
- Conclusion of agreements.
- Confirmation of acceptance of the order by the supplier.
The company’s lawyer develops sample forms of contracts and transfers them to structural units. His responsibilities include the endorsement of draft agreements concluded with counterparties, and providing them for signature to the director of the company.
Disagreement
In the event of a dispute with counterparties during the execution of contracts, the company's lawyer draws up a protocol. The partners of the enterprise do the same. Upon receipt of disagreement protocols from counterparties, a specialist in the legal department checks:
- Timeliness of their compilation.
- The validity and legitimacy of the objections received from the structural units in relation to certain proposals of counterparties.
In the event of partial or complete disagreement with the terms of the transaction, measures are taken for non-judicial settlement of the dispute.
Analytical activity
The legal department of a bank or any other enterprise studies contracts concluded in previous periods. Moreover, the analysis is carried out in specific areas. In particular, it is being studied:
- Compliance of the terms of agreements with the interests of the company and its counterparties.
- Provisions that need to be changed or clarified, including in connection with innovations in the legislation.
The legal department of the enterprise administration checks the status of contractual activities in structural divisions. If deficiencies are found, proposals and a set of measures to correct the situation are developed. In the framework of this area, information is also being studied on the amount of fines transferred by the enterprise for violations committed in the performance of obligations.
Claim work
The legal department keeps track of objections received from counterparties and the documentation associated with them in a single journal form. The responsibilities of the unit include the preparation of claims and confirmations to them in the amount necessary for the transfer of partners to arbitration and retention in business. The legal department sends notifications to counterparties on the facts of non-fulfillment or improper fulfillment by them of their obligations. The unit monitors compliance with the requirements specified in the claims (in the case of positive responses to them). Verification is based on information provided by other departments. Employees of the legal unit prepare and submit proposals to the head of the enterprise regarding pre-trial settlement of conflicts, as well as filing claims in court. Upon receipt of claims from counterparties, the legal department reviews them. During it are checked:
- The validity of the objections. In particular, it establishes the timeliness of sending claims, the correctness of references to regulatory acts, the agreement and other documents.
- Actual circumstances cited in the objection.
After consideration, draft answers to the claims are drawn up, which are agreed with the interested departments of the enterprise. The head of the company is presented with proposals for the full or partial satisfaction of the claims received.
Advocacy
The legal department takes all necessary measures to pre-trial settlement of disputes with counterparties. In the case of receipt of evidence from partners of the enterprise confirming the refusal to satisfy the claims sent to them or if they did not receive answers within the established time frame, the preparation of the claim and materials for presentation to the arbitration court is carried out. The responsibilities of the unit include representation of the interests of the company during the proceedings. As part of this activity, employees, among other things, prepare counterclaims, petitions, and study the requirements received from counterparties. For each production case is formed. They file copies of applications and applications, reviews of claims, summonses and other materials. The legal department is also preparing a list of employees whose presence may be required by a court in a particular proceeding. The positions of authorized employees are agreed with the head of the enterprise.
Common tasks
The unit in question carries out:
- Advising all employees of the enterprise on legal issues.
- Work on insurance of material assets at the disposal of the company.
- Registration of applications and other documents, their transfer to municipal and state structures for obtaining permits, patents, licenses for conducting business by an enterprise.
- Development of materials related to ensuring the safety of company property. In particular, draft mat contracts are being prepared. responsibility, instructions determining the procedure for receipt and posting of property, accounting for its movement, and so on.
- Development of materials on embezzlement, theft, damage, lack of material assets for the implementation of measures to compensate for damage.
- Verification of compliance of draft orders on dismissal or transfer of materially responsible person.
- Analysis with the concerned departments of the circumstances leading to property damage, theft, embezzlement and other violations.
- Verification and endorsement of liability agreements.
- Representation in government oversight bodies authorized to consider cases of administrative violations discovered at the enterprise.
- Signing of protocols and acts drawn up during the inspection process, description of the reasons for disagreement with the results.
- Development of reception schedules for employees of the enterprise for counseling.
The powers of the legal department also include participation in audits carried out by state control and supervisory authorities in order to suppress the unlawful actions of their representatives.
Interaction within the enterprise
The legal department carries out its activities in close contact with all divisions of the company. The following are agreed with them:
- Draft orders, orders, contracts for sighting and examination.
- Claims submitted by counterparties.
- Materials for the presentation of disagreements and claims against consumers and suppliers in case of violation of their obligations.
- Applications for the search for the required regulatory documents.
- Responses to claims and claims of counterparties in case of violation by units of their obligations.
As part of the interaction, the legal department explains the provisions of the current legislation, the rules for their application.
Work with accounting
This unit interacts with issues related to:
- The results of the inventory of material assets located in the enterprise.
- Information about theft, shortages, damage, waste of property.
- Reporting on the expenditure of funds allocated by accounting.
Interaction with financiers
The legal department agrees with the indicated employees on draft contracts for the subsequent legal examination. In addition, interaction with the financial department is carried out on the following issues:
- Drawing up opinions on claims and claims brought by counterparties.
- Formation of documentation on the transfer of funds for payment of duties.
- Accounts payable and receivable.
- Summarizing the results of court cases and claims.
As part of the work with the financial department, the provisions of the law are also clarified, legal assistance is provided, decisions on claims are made, materials on the state of the enterprises' debts are analyzed, and proposals are made for the forced collection of funds from counterparties.
Other areas of interaction
The legal department is in contact with the sales department on the coordination of the terms of contracts for the sale of products. As part of the interaction, information is provided on the counterparties' breach of their obligations, their non-compliance with the delivery and payment terms of the product, proposals for adjusting the agreements in accordance with the specifics of individual partners of the enterprise. In addition, work is underway with the logistics department. Within the framework of the activity, materials are studied and calculations are carried out to direct claims and claims against suppliers who have violated contractual obligations, and protocols of disagreements are drawn up.
Division Rights
The legal department may:
- To request and receive information, reference information, materials necessary for the implementation of their duties from other departments of the enterprise.
- Correspondence with municipal and state bodies on legal issues.
- Act as a representative of the enterprise in state power structures, other organizations and institutions on issues within its competence.
- Give instructions to the rest of the company and individual employees within their authority. Issued orders are considered binding.
- Take the necessary measures to identify violations of the requirements of the legislation at the enterprise, report the facts to the head to bring the perpetrators to justice.
- To attract specialists and experts in consultation with the director for consultations and preparation of recommendations, proposals, conclusions.
Responsibility
It is carried by the head of the legal department. Personal responsibility lies with:
- Non-compliance with the norms of law of the signed and signed acts.
- Compilation, approval and submission of inaccurate reporting on compliance with legal requirements at the enterprise.
- Failure to provide or improper provision of company management with legal information.
- Untimely or poor-quality documentation and execution of orders of the director.
- Assuming the use of information by employees of the department is not for official purposes.
- Non-observance by employees of the work schedule.
- Cost overruns to support the activities of the unit.
- Holding the company administratively liable due to improper work of the legal department.
additional information
The unit may include specialists and assistants. An instruction is developed and approved for each employee. It, like the Regulation on the legal department, is binding. In case of inconsistency of one item or another with the real state of affairs, the head of the unit, employee or other person must apply for additions or changes to the document. As a rule, this is done by the personnel, personnel service or expert commission (if the latter is provided for in the state). The proposal must be considered within one month from the date of its submission. At the end of this period, one of the decisions shall be made:
- Accept addition / change.
- Submit a proposal for revision. At the same time, the period within which it is necessary to eliminate the inaccuracies and the person in charge shall be indicated.
- Refuse to accept the offer.
In the latter case, a reasonable answer is sent to the applicant. The application is compiled in the form approved by the company.