Career Development

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By Sheryl Koval Garko / Fish & Richardson

Sheryl Koval Garko is an intellectual property litigator in Fish & Richardson’s Boston office who enjoyed recent success in an influential trademark case decided by the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC). Early in her career she benefitted from her firm’s support of women in its ranks. She still profits from that support, but she has also joined the leaders who have helped expand the ways women are supported. The interview has been edited for length and style.

 MCC: Tell us about your intellectual property litigation practice and the kind of work you do for your clients. What attracted you to IP litigation specifically?
Continue Reading Empowered by IP: A litigator is inspired by the challenges of technology and the support of her firm

By Veta T. Richardson / Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC)

Veta T. Richardson is the president and CEO of the Association of Corporate Counsel, based in Washington, D.C. Beginning in 2000, ACC has conducted extensive surveys of chief legal officers (which include law department leaders with various titles, including general counsel). Not long after the latest survey of 1,100 chief legal officers from 42 countries was released, she agreed to discuss what she reads in the results. The interview has been edited for style and length.Continue Reading Making Sense of the ACC Survey: Veta T. Richardson interprets what chief legal officers seem to be doing

By Joe Calve, Metropolitan Corporate Counsel

It sounds like a bad science fiction movie. The people of planet Earth are, as usual, blissfully unprepared for the alien invasion. Spindly, big-headed creatures – legions of them – emerge from their improbable flying machines. They are nothing like us. What are their intentions? Are they friend or foe? How will we communicate? Can we work together in peace with this job-hopping, oversharing, disloyal, entitled, itinerant, social media-addicted alien hoard?Continue Reading Backstory: The Millennial Invasion

By Trisha Anderson, Inventus LLC

According to the U.S. Census, there are over 83 million millennials. They make up over a quarter of the nation’s population. The growth of this demographic has had an inevitable impact on the demographics of the workforce. By the year 2020, millennials will account for 46 percent of all employees.Continue Reading Millennials Are Leading—Is Your Company Following?: A new generation of employees is setting the pace for modern communication

By Reese Arrowsmith, Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC)

Intro: Reese Arrowsmith, who heads legal operations at Campbell Soup Company, is the inaugural chair of the legal operations membership section of the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC). He spoke with us about his new role at ACC, the growth he’s seen in the field of legal operations and where he thinks it’s going next. His comments have been edited for style and length.Continue Reading ACC Is All In on Legal Operations: The association’s first chair of its ops section explains why

By Yvette McGee Brown, Jones Day

Introduction: Yvette McGee Brown, a native of Columbus, Ohio, has had a varied career. She’s been a common pleas court judge, she ran the child abuse and behavioral health division of a children’s hospital, she made a run for lieutenant governor of Ohio, she’s served on the Ohio Supreme Court, and now she is a litigator at Jones Day. Given the diversity of her career, it seems like poetic justice that she serves as Partner-in-Charge of Diversity, Inclusion and Advancement at the firm. Below, she discusses her career and her role in promoting diversity in the profession, at Jones Day and beyond. Her remarks have been edited for length and style.Continue Reading Definitively Driving Diversity: Exposing students to law firm life early can make all the difference

By Stephanie Mullette, Robert E. Bostrom, National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD), Abercrombie & Fitch

Introduction: As the role of general counsel has evolved, they are increasingly called upon to provide corporate boards with advice on company strategy and business operations. This has led the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) to launch a new initiative, the Strategic-Asset GC, designed to help boards fulfill their mission of creating long-term corporate value. Stephanie Mullette, NACD’s Director of Corporate Solutions, and Robert E. Bostrom, previously a lawyer at the Federal Reserve of New York who became a partner at Winston & Strawn, SNR Denton and Greenberg Traurig, and general counsel of NatWest Bancorp, Freddie Mac and, currently, Abercrombie & Fitch, discuss below the initiative and what it takes to be a Strategic-Asset GC. Their remarks have been edited for length and style.Continue Reading GC Outlook: Clear and Stormy: In a crisis, it’s easy to contribute. The challenge is when it’s calm.

By Carolyn Casey, AccessData

Ninety-three percent of companies consider their general counsel a member of the executive management, up from 55 percent in 2010, according to Equilar’s General Counsel Pay Trends 2016. GCs have moved beyond solely advising on technical legal issues in large-scale organizations. GCs have long been at the table for strategic planning, compliance, risk management and cyber concerns. The more strategic influence of the chief legal officer is reflected in a median total direct compensation of $2.1 million at S&P 500 companies, per the Equilar 2016 study.Continue Reading Will 2017 Be the Year of the GC as Mega-Risk Officer?: As new threats loom, companies are more dependent than ever on the legal department’s risk oversight

By Robert Max Crane, Peter G. Verniero, Beth S. Rose, Sills Cummis & Gross P.C.

Sills Cummis & Gross recently celebrated its 45th anniversary with a gala reception featuring political commentators David Axelrod and Michael Murphy as befits the firm’s commitment to government service and civic affairs. Sills Managing Partner, Max Crane, and two of its practice leaders, Peter G. Verniero and Beth S. Rose, recently spoke with MCC about the event, the firm’s roots and its future. Their remarks have been edited for length and style.
Continue Reading Sills Celebrates in Civic-Minded Fashion: Firm anniversary brings together law, business, government and policy

By Metropolitan Corporate Counsel

Median compensation for general counsel increased slightly between 2014 and 2015 at companies ranging from under $1 billion in revenue to more than $15 billion, according to “General Counsel Pay Trends 2016,” a new survey from Equilar, which collects information on 150,000 executives and board members of public companies. The healthcare sector delivered the highest median total direct compensation for GCs at $3 million, as compared to an average of $1.2 million for the S&P 500 as a whole.Continue Reading Backstory: GC Comp: Doing More with . . . a Little More