___________________________________________________________________________________ Susan
Hudson | Flowserve
Within any global manufacturer, legal sits at a seemingly awkward intersection; the business wants to move quickly and get products out the door, while legal teams are responsible for identifying and reducing risk. At Flowserve Corporation( Flowserve), Chief Legal Officer Susan Hudson spends her days closing the distance between those demands, and she rejects the idea that they pull in opposite directions.
Flowserve is a publicly traded, global manufacturer of pumps, valves, and seals for critical infrastructure such as nuclear power plants and pharmaceutical facilities.“ I view us as a company that a lot of people don’ t know about, but we help power the world,” Susan summarizes.“ Without our products, you’ re not getting your energy.”
As a member of the executive leadership team( ELT), Susan advises the CEO, leads enterprise risk management, runs M & A activity, and oversees governance, litigation, compliance, trade compliance, and ESG. In an unusual addition to the legal remit, she also manages the marketing, communications, and design group.
Falling into law
Her journey into law was far from straightforward.“ I fell into law a little bit; I didn’ t have a traditional path,” Susan admits.“ I grew up in Fort Worth, Texas, and it was my younger sister who dreamed of a career in law.”
Susan’ s own path first led her to Washington, DC for a job after college. Feeling homesick, she moved back to Texas, where her sister was working at a law firm and helped Susan secure a job there.“ I always wanted to be independent and to pursue something intellectually challenging,” she recalls.“ I decided to take the LSAT and see how it turned out. I scored well and spent the next stretch working at a small law firm in the day and studying law at night.”
Susan’ s early career focused on building range rather than specialism. She provided outside general counsel services for small businesses, handled employment work and litigation, and even once tried a criminal case. A move to Pier 1 Imports followed, where Susan ran the litigation department and the employment law team, before joining Flowserve around a decade ago. At Flowserve, she first worked across global employment law, executive compensation and benefits, supply chain contracting, and distributor sales before becoming Chief Compliance Officer and then Chief Legal Officer.
“ Once I moved in-house, that’ s when I fell in love with legal work,” Susan shares.“ I’ m probably most passionate about being able to partner with businesspeople who don’ t have legal backgrounds. I enjoy translating complex legal situations into something people across the business can understand and then helping them manage risk and identify creative solutions. It’ s the hybrid of law and business that’ s my sweet spot.”
Risk and growth as partners
Susan’ s central argument is that risk and growth do not have to compete.“ The legal team’ s job is to ensure the company understands its risks, help mitigate them, and support informed decisions, all of which depends on business acumen,” Susan explains.“ A lawyer who understands how the company makes money, who its customers and competitors are, and where the strategy is heading can build risk mitigation that delivers growth rather than blocking it.”
The biggest shift for Susan’ s team came with a change in mindset. Legal work, she argues, cannot be risk avoidance at any cost.“ You need to be pragmatic in the solutions,” she says.“ Often, business leaders have one idea, and attorneys may have a more conservative approach, and there’ s always a workable solution to be found somewhere in the middle. The executive team tends to be fast-paced and collaborative, requiring advice in real time as discussion happens. I don’ t walk away at the decision point. It’ s important to see your decision all the way through implementation. It allows you see the real impact of a decision, and you can apply what you learned in future situations.” modern-counsel. com 57