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Corporate Counsel
Influencing the C-Suite: Advice for in-house counsel on the fine arts of influence and persuasion
For in-house counsel, convincing colleagues in the C-suite —or in the rest of the company, for that matter —is rarely a simple matter of saying, “Do it. I’m the lawyer.” Influence and persuasion require strategic thinking, a deep understanding of a company’s...
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The Essential Skills of an LDO Leader: Successful operations executives fuse talent, tact, and technical ability
Deciding to hire a legal department operations executive seems like a no-brainer for general counsel who want to transform the way their teams deliver services to clients. Unfortunately for those GCs, that’s where the easy part ends. There’s rarely anything simple about finding the...
Read MoreTechnology
Turning Great Strategy into Great Success: NetApp works hard at getting the hard part – such as metrics – right
My last column described how Silicon Valley’s NetApp Inc. has stepped on the accelerator in its drive to create a world-class legal department – one powered by smart technology decisions, first-rate metrics and a deep commitment to satisfying its clients inside and outside the company....
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NetApp Legal Team Races Ahead: Playing a key role in achieving the company’s business goals
For NetApp Inc.’s legal department, the autobahn isn’t just a ribbon of pavement slicing through the German countryside. In symbolic terms at least, it’s the route to the future. Three years ago, the Silicon Valley data management giant adopted the idea of using the autobahn to...
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At Allstate, the Future Is Now: One GC set out to create nothing less than the law department of the future
Four years ago, Susie Lees became general counsel at Allstate. She had been with the law department for 24 years, and she saw that it was time for major change. Costs were too high, and operations were inefficient. Thus began an odyssey as Lees set out to create the Law Department of the Future (...
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Creating Transformation Through Managerial Courage: For a general counsel, demonstrating managerial courage can transform the entire organization.
Recently, I was speaking with an executive recruiter about what it takes to be a successful GC in this era of the activist investor (see my column in the April issue of MCC). “If you don’t have managerial courage, you’re probably not going to be an effective general counsel...
Read MoreTackling the Human Element in Transformation: Nothing will change until your people do
When thinking about transforming the legal department into a strategic partner for the business, it helps to see it as a journey rather than an overnight change. And Nancy Jessen, senior vice president of Legal Business Solutions at UnitedLex, breaks that journey down into four increasingly...
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