Carol Bartz, CEO of Yahoo!, writes in the Economist, The World in 2010 at 128, about leadership in the information-overload age, Bartz observes that “hi-Po’s” have traditionally meant standout employees “who could climb the next rung of the management ladder.” The honor now should go to “those employees who, though…
Nearly all large legal departments find themselves with a single lawyer in one or more locations. Int’l In-House Counsel J., Vol 2, Summer 2009 at 1301, doesn’t mince words: “For those who will be the only lawyer on site at a location, seniority is a must.” It takes experience and…
An interesting article in the Harvard Bus. Rev., Vol. 87, Dec. 2009 at 48, 55 extols the virtues of moderate conflicts among senior managers. A general counsel would do well to consider how to spark healthy disagreements among the lawyers and others who form the senior legal team (See my…
Bristol-Myers Squibb, winner of a 2009 Employers of Choice commendation from Diversity & the Bar, Vol. 11, Nov./Dec. 2009 at 16, operates a ten-week summer internship program for minority law students. This past summer the program allowed eight of them to experience working in the legal department. The program has…
Hildebrandt, a unit of Thomson Reuters, shared some data on cost control strategies from its 2009 Law Department Survey. “Over the past several years, in-house attorneys have been receiving an annual 6-8% median increase in total cash compensation.” The recession has ended that streak. I don’t write much on this…
An economic model developed by NERA for the ACC and adjusted by Balanomics for research described in the ACC Docket, Nov. 2009 at 102-3, uses an estimate of what law firms spend to find and attract new associates. That estimate puts talent acquisition costs of law firms for “1st year…
Hundreds, if not thousands, of posts on this blog refer to general counsel. Most use the term “general counsel” to stand in for the entire legal department, only a few pertain specifically to characteristic traits of person as an individual or the position. I have gathered XX metaposts that have…
For most in-house counsel, how the general counsel can clear a career path for them is a conundrum. According to Cheryl Solomon, general counsel of the Gucci Group, if a lawyer has primary responsibility for a major business unit it can be easier to get promoted to the next level…
Your law department had to lay off a lawyer or two. Is that the end of it? No. A long-term study of employees at Boeing over a decade of deep downsizing found that “survivors can suffer just as much, if not more, than colleagues who get laid off.” As explained…
“We can make the distinction between leadership and management conceptually, but in practice I don’t think we should.” An excellent point for general counsel, made by management guru Henry Mintzberg in MIT Sloan Mgt. Rev., Vol. 51, Fall 2009 at 12. He points out that setting grand strategies is often…