“About 23 percent of businesses in this country offer paid or unpaid sabbaticals, according to a 2005 report from the Society for Human Resources Management,” according to the NY Times, April 22, 2006, at C6. Of that quarter, 17 percent offer unpaid sabbaticals, 6 percent paid (See my post of…
While the general counsel of Nestle USA, Kristin Adrian, believes that law firm experience helps a general counsel later on manage firms, she also believes “that one should work in-house for a period of time before assuming the general counsel role,” inform: Life Law, & Business, Issue 1 at 5.…
If we could attach a stressometer to an archetypal GC who is the only in-house counsel and do the same to an archetypal Deputy GC who counsels a multi-billion dollar business unit and the 20 other lawyers who serve it, whose stress needle would most often go red? Can we…
Given 10 choices of “least rewarding aspect of your job,” the 400 plus in-house attorneys responded to an online survey in December 2005 most frequently picked “career advancement opportunities” (39%). As reported in InsideCounsel, March 2006 at 48, the other downsides to an in-house career they ranked were “managing a…
From nine choices an online survey in December 2005 offered that described in-house advantages, 400 plus corporate attorneys chose three as almost equally strong: “work hours,” “exposure to the business side” (both at 25%), and “variety of legal work” (22%). The other selections, as reported in InsideCounsel, March 2006 at…
Given 10 choices on a question asking about the “least rewarding aspect of your job,” more than 400 in-house attorneys who responded to an online survey in December 2005 pointed the finger the most (39% of the time) at “career advancement opportunities.” As reported in InsideCounsel, March 2006 at 48,…
One wonders about the internal inconsistency of seeking leaders among the group that is known for being risk-adverse (See my post of Oct. 18, 2005 on “scheissenbedauern,” which translates as “I’m in fact sorry the thing didn’t blow up, like I predicted.”). A hallmark of a good leader is a…
How do I staff thee? Let me count the ways. In addition to full-time employees, law departments can have (1) part-time employees; (2) offshore support (See my post of Nov. 14, 2005 regarding off-shoring.); (3) staff borrowed from other units (See my post of April 18, 2005 on project managers…
(1) After we agreed on the environmental indemnities, the negotiations moved more smoothly. The resolution of the hold-back reserve took hours and was far from smooth. (2) After we agreed on the environmental indemnities, the negotiations moved more smoothly. What was far from smooth were the hours it took to…
Research summarized in the New York Times, April 6, 2006 at C3, confirms what may seem intuitively plain: “Being good looking seems to be strongly associated with self-confidence, a trait that is apparently attractive to employers.” To compound this advantage in the contest of physiognomy, let’s face it, “employers overestimated…