In my experience, a town hall meeting finds the general counsel sitting in front of most or all of the law department and answering whatever questions are asked. It hails from the fishbowl (“workout”) technique made famous by General Electrics. A town hall Q&A session is supposed to be open,…
No one has devised a solid, generally-accepted methodology to measure talent in a law department. One approach is to ferret out several indicators of quality and create an index (See my posts of May 17, 2006 about a litigation index; Aug. 28, 2005 on a client satisfaction index; Aug. 14,…
Many promotions leave in their wake one or more disappointed lawyers. This is especially true when a new general counsel is appointed from inside. The passed-over lawyers in-house, those who thought they had a shot at the top job, may accept the new leader and remain as productive and loyal…
A profile of Mark LeHocky, general counsel of Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream, ran in the Recorder, March 30, 2007. LeHocky, whose company is part of Nestle, represented Dreyer’s in the 1990s and was asked in 1997 to join the company as its top lawyer. He was reluctant because he enjoyed…
Studies referred to in Scientific Am., April 2007 at 36, show that “about 50 percent of each person’s happiness is determined from birth.” We each have a genetic set point of contentment that is to that degree largely set for life (See my post of March 8, 2006 for more…
An article in the McKinsey Quarterly, 2007 No. 1 at 77, discusses the halo effect. “[I]t describes the tendency to make specific inferences on the basis of a general impression.” For example, a company’s “performance, good or bad, creates an overall impression – a halo – that shapes how we…
Some lawyers carry fat purses: international, M&A; some lawyers borrow food stamps: insurance, banking. Why? InsideCounsel, April 2007 at 59 takes a look at several surveys of in-house compensation. One of the data charts (at 64) shows six practice areas ranked by lawyer pay: International ($226,200), M&A ($221,500), Compliance ($215,100),…
InsideCounsel, April 2007 at 59, takes a look at several surveys of in-house compensation. One of the items looks at the criteria for bonus determinations. Data from the survey conducted annually by Hildebrandt International (this blogger’s firm) shows that 90 percent of in-house attorneys were eligible in 2005 for a…
A general counsel who was blinded at age 25, before he attended law school and became the first Seminole ever to graduate from law school, inspires complete admiration. Jim Shore, now 61, is profiled in Corp. Counsel, Vol. 14, April 2007 at 76, and it is an impressive tribute to…
A truly extraordinary appointment just came to light. On March 28, 2007 Willis Group Holdings, the global insurance broker, appointed Adam Ciongoli its General Counsel. Ciongoli will oversee legal, compliance and audit functions. What’s extraordinary is that Ciongoli was most recently law clerk to US Supreme Court Justice Samuel A.…