One allure of going in-house has always reportedly been that the hours are less than at a law firm (See my post of March 26, 2006 about a report by BCG that challenges this lure.). A recent study by Texas Tech University School of Law professor Susan Saab Fortney found…
Human capital – “productive assets in the form of human competencies” – ranges from skills and assets that are specific to a company to those that apply in any managerial context. As described in the Harvard Bus. Rev., Vol. 84, May 2006 at 96, there are five rungs in this…
Rebuilding the morale of the 60 or so lawyers at Computer Associates, a company that endured the ignominy of executive wrongdoing, the new general counsel drew on the experience of his former law department (Altria). At CA, Kenneth Handal ushered in several pro bono opportunities for his lawyers acccording to…
The former general counsel of GE, Ben Heineman says that “More than 60 percent of the [about 1,100] GE lawyers are diverse and/or non-US professionals. Thirty percent of our senior lawyers are diverse.” In the same piece, Corp. Counsel, Vol. 13, April 2006 at 89, readers learn that 40 percent…
Like the flag and ET, who can fault “mentoring”? A wise guide, who shows you the ropes and pulls you along, the Beatrice for whom we all yearn. And all consultants, HR professionals, and career counselors gush about the virtues of mentors. Certainly push anyone successful enough to be asked,…
Many law departments award stock options to some or all of their lawyers. If companies pull back from doling out awards as generously as before, because the company has to expense the value of the option immediately, law departments will to that degree lose some of their compensation luster. Equity…
You will live longer if you give some thought to this statement: “brain health is now known to be the number one indicator of longevity….” Neuropsychiatrist Richard Restak, writing in the American Scholar, Vol. 75, Spring 2006 at 16, urges courses “aimed at teaching students ways of maintaining optimal brain…
Law firm partners face jolting changes when they join a law department at a senior level. Major disparities between partners’ experiences in a law firm compared to the department that they join relate to prestige, compensation, organization, communication, and management. The following are three interesting comments excerpted from Hildebrandt’s research…
Some tests, such as the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) screen out unwanted candidates, such as those who indicate a proclivity toward substance abuse or psychopathology, according to Business Week, April 14, 2006 at 89. Other tests screen in desirable candidates, as does the California Psychological Inventory. Some tests gauge…
Marsh & McLennan’s Viewpoint, Vol. 32, No. 2 of 2003 at 23, discusses a sophisticated technique that pulls together data about personnel to create an insightful picture about a pool of employees. Called an “Internal Labor Market” (ILM) analysis, if it were applicable to a law department it would start…