In order to capitalise on the benefits that a diverse and inclusive workplace can bring, a leader may have to get beyond initial resistance within the corporation, often arising from fear of being targeted or implicitly blamed. Continue reading “Shaping diversity: part two”
Despite the many senior GCs and in-house counsel that we have interviewed for this report (and elsewhere in GC magazine) as active sponsors of diverse workplaces, some of our consultants noted that legal departments were not typically being identified by diversity professionals as pioneers within their corporations on this issue. Continue reading “Shaping diversity: part three”
Diversity and inclusion are now top strategic priorities for 21st century business leaders. Across the globe, many general counsel and law firm managing partners are engaged in the debate and committed to creating the conditions for diverse and inclusive organisations. Continue reading “Diversity toolkit”
We began our survey of European GCs and other leading in-house legal figures by posing the question ‘Do you think that the legal team has a role to play in promoting diversity and inclusion in the wider organisation?’ Continue reading “A numbers game: diversity in Europe”
Collaboration is cited as one of the key challenges facing business today. That challenge can be exacerbated for lawyers, due to the very nature of what they do. While humans are inherently social animals, we are just as likely to compete with one another when resources are scarce and conditions are dynamic or uncertain. For some, that could characterise the modern law firm!
Continue reading “Trusted adviser: the power of collaboration”
You wouldn’t normally mistake a lawyer for a designer. One is usually armed with a pen and a rulebook, the other with a Mac and a black turtleneck. Right?
Wrong.
Continue reading “Back to the drawing board – lawyers who think like designers”
Patent ‘trolls’, or non-practising entities, remain a thorn in the side of innovating companies in the US and abroad. But recent developments in both the courts and legislature are simultaneously attempting to deal with the issue – amounting to what could be a sea change for intellectual property law.
Palo Alto may conjure up images of unbridled wealth, hip workplaces and Tesla dealerships, but there is another side to Silicon Valley and its environs – that of East Palo Alto, with its underprivileged schools and one in four youths living in poverty.
Continue reading “Inspiring the next generation: not a moot point”
1998 seems like a lifetime ago, where global e-commerce was a futuristic fantasy for ordinary people just discovering the internet. Yet 1998 was year zero for the European Union’s Data Protection Directive – the basis for legislation protecting personal data across member states today.
Over the past year, I’ve spent a lot of my time talking to GCs, in-house legal teams and partners in private practice, to ensure that what we are doing at The Legal 500 matches up to the needs of the market.