‘Tis the season when top in-house legal officers get a taste of what outside counsel go through every year when the Am Law 100 is published. There it is for all the world to see: “What’s in your wallet?” That’s because summer is the season when ALM, publisher of The American Lawyer, and the Association of Corporate Counsel drop their annual compensation reports on inside and outside counsel.
Continue Reading $how Me the Money!

All this talk of in-house megabucks brings to mind the plight of Stephen R. Williams. Williams works in-house – and all hours – with a multi-facility hospital network in the Midwest. He also writes a column, in what little spare time he has, for Above the Law. This summer, Williams let off a little steam in a nifty rant about comp – his comp – which is in white-shoe territory – assuming those shoes are on the feet of a hospital orderly.
Continue Reading Flipping Out: The $15/hour, 24/7/365 Corporate Counsel 

ACC’s 101-page annual CLO survey is a monument to the growing clout of top legal executives across the globe. Indeed, if they get any more influential, the CEO will report to the CLO instead of the other way around. ACC is not shy in blowing the horn for its constituents. “Based upon the feedback received from 1,275 CLOs in 48 countries,” it says, “with the publication of this 2018 CLO Survey, ACC marks the start of the Age of the Chief Legal Officer.”
Continue Reading Coming of Age

Recently, the topic of culture has rocketed up the corporate agenda. Look no further than our interview with Nick Donofrio and Helene Gayle, who recently led a Blue Ribbon Commission on culture for the National Association of Corporate Directors. Why take a hard look now at a “soft” topic such as culture? Check the headlines, says Donofrio, a member of the NACD board.
Continue Reading Backstory: A Voice at the Table

Article by James A. Merklinger /  Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC)

There is no doubt that 2016 was a record-setting year in the history of the enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The nearly $2.5 billion in settlements that companies paid to resolve FCPA cases dwarfs the previous year’s figure of $133 million. However, nearly absent from the books last year were incidents in the Middle East.
Continue Reading ACC and Dubai Join Forces on Anticorruption Program: Goal is to train in-house counsel active in the Middle East