First up on the agenda for our discussion was big data. Nick Maltby of Genomics England is general counsel for the 100,000 Genomes Project, a UK government initiative which collects DNA data from patients with rare diseases and cancers. Continue reading “GC Roundtable: the new frontiers of IP, London”
Tim Murphy has worked for MasterCard for 16 years. Starting out as an in-house lawyer, he then spent over ten years in non-legal business roles, serving as president of the US region and chief product officer. In 2014, he stepped back into legal to assume the mantle of general counsel. In the first of a two-part interview, GC catches up with him to hear how working in the business has shaped his vision as GC. Continue reading “Let’s talk business: part one”
Victor Topadze became group legal director at Russian classifieds business Avito in 2012. He saw his team grow from a four-person outfit to a 15-strong department in only two years, as the company transformed from the start-up it was in 2009 to the multibillion dollar company it is today. Continue reading “A different dynamic: managing an expanded legal team”
Incorporating Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden, the GC Powerlist: Nordics countries share common history and economic values. With small populations, but open and affluent economies that balance free market capitalism with significant social welfare services, the ‘Nordic model’ represents high living standards with low income disparity. Continue reading “GC Powerlist: Nordics”
‘Some are born great, some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon them’, muses Malvolio, a steward in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night and the victim of a cruel prank whereby he believes he might be elevated to his mistress’s side as consort. Continue reading “Our great leader: unraveling the process of choosing the right candidate for the top job”
Unless you manage a multinational team, you probably don’t know that at 1:30pm in London it is 7:00pm in Bangalore and 7:30am in Milwaukee. For a small, crucial window of time, this is the most convenient hour or so in which everyone can come together. Continue reading “Time travel and the art of managing a remote team”
I’ve been advocating for some time that the ‘Trusted Adviser’ description of in-house counsel and GCs has the potential to encourage too much detachment between those lawyers and the organisations that employ them. While I condone some level of professional detachment, I equally encourage proactivity. Continue reading “Who do you think you are?”
‘Big data’ is becoming a buzzword in all walks of business life, and legal is no exception – whether that involves supporting your business in its forays into big data or using big data to inform processes in the legal department itself. Continue reading “The promised land? Big data and the in-house lawyer”
GC: What initiatives has Microsoft and its legal department pioneered to promote race and ethnic diversity within its workforce?
Mary Snapp (MS): Microsoft’s legal department has had a focused diversity team for 12 years. Brad Smith [Microsoft’s president and chief legal officer] and I collaborated to start the diversity team within the department, which grew to include 85 people. Continue reading “Change partners: How can law firms and in-house departments promote race and ethnic diversity?”
Collaboration in Big Pharma might seem like anathema for some who think of the regular patent litigation headlines that the industry produces. However, the sector is seeing an increasing number of peer-to-peer collaborations, and researchers at the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research (NIBR) have championed open research collaborations between entities. Continue reading “Opening up to new partnerships”