Kathleen Burke on contract management
From Gemma Dreher speaks with Kathleen Burke with additional questions from the Be the GC! event. · · ACC Northeast
“For some companies, you might just have a dollar threshold and say under a certain dollar threshold we're going to live with this. But sometimes, at least in the case of my company, we layer qualitative factors on top of that.”
On , Kathleen Burke, Executive Vice President, General Counsel & Secretary at MKS INSTRUMENTS INC, spoke about contract management during Gemma Dreher speaks with Kathleen Burke with additional questions from the Be the GC! event. on ACC Northeast.
About Kathleen Burke
In December 2021, Burke testified at a DMCA Section 1201 hearing, arguing that the environment for video game console repair had changed since 2018. She stated that Microsoft had stopped repairing devices not in active production, such as the Xbox 360 and Xbox One, leaving consumers with no official repair options. She also cited global supply chain vulnerabilities, including the COVID-19 pandemic and trade relations with China, as reasons for the necessity of repair exemptions. In September 2021, Burke participated in a virtual discussion where she described her approach to managing a legal department. She said that the right contract review process depends on a company's risk profile and available resources, and that training non-legal staff and developing a playbook can allow for greater autonomy. Burke emphasized the importance of hiring lawyers with business pragmatism and a sense of humor, and noted that her department grew from a one-person role to a team of 20 as MKS Instruments' revenue increased from $300 million to $2.3 billion.