Paul Elst, one of my readers, wrote me. He is an attorney in the Netherlands and has an interesting story that probably has counterparts in many countries of the world. I work as legal counsel on a freelance basis. In Dutch:” interim jurist”. In the past 7 years I have…
Having written approvingly about so-called 360˚ assessments, where managers, peers, and reports complete assessments of a lawyer, I think of them as useful (See my post of Dec. 26, 2007: 360˚ instruments with 5 references.) What a person learns from a 360-feedback can be constructive, but an article in talent…
The quote comes from Catherine Nathan, a partner at Spencer Stuart who places senior in-house lawyers. She makes the point in Diversity & The Bar, Vol. 10, May/June 2008 at 32, that CEOs have much more experience hiring CFOs, COOs and HR executives, but they are on unfamiliar ground when…
Retreats (aka conferences and offsites) often start with a get-to-know-others activity (See my post of Sept. 25, 2008: ice breakers at law department meetings.). Later on, many meeting planners want a dose of team building. Here are some examples from my consulting experience. Team cooking (such as by Team Cuisine…
A study of women who lead the legal teams at 92 companies on the Fortune 1000 list presents the data in every imaginable way. Two points from the Diversity & The Bar, July/Aug. 2008 at 30, particularly caught my eye: general counsel who were promoted and the positions new general…
The presidential election campaign concluded, I can return to blogging. Thank goodness, because I threw myself into it the past couple of months and left little time to write. What do you do if your boss supports the candidate or party that you don’t, and both of you care about…
According to the “indifference theory” of economics, in a perfect market the value of a company is independent of its capital structure, which is its mix of equity and debt financing. Having read about this in the Harv. Bus. Rev., Vol. 85, Sept. 2008 at 94-95, I wondered whether the…
Some general counsel wander in the wilderness, sometimes for several years, before they become the top lawyer. Sandy McDade, for example, practiced for 20 years in Weyerhaeuser’s law department. He then left the department and spent six years in a strategic planning role and as the leader of the company’s…
It is a good practice to designate “minors” for many of your in-house lawyers – secondary areas of law they should keep up on for the benefit of the entire department. Their “minor” knowledge, which may relate to their primary discipline but certainly has importance from time to time to…
“General Mills Inc. tracks the number of ready-now candidates for each position at or above the vice president level.” The company requires senior executives to cultivate and list who has the training and experience to step into each VP position. This comes from MIT Sloan Mgt. Rev., Vol. 50, Fall…