The German word schadenfreude, the split feelings of laughing when you see someone slip on a banana peel but then bad for laughing, may describe what general counsel feel when one of their stars is proclaimed by a magazine as a future general counsel. You burst with pride, then you feel bad because the publicity means you are more likely to lose that talented lawyer.
Sure, everyone talks about breeding leaders and we praise General Electric’s law department for spawning so many general counsel, but if our turn comes to expose talent, it has its schadenfreude.