The Middle East is never boring. The West has long been fascinated by its geo-strategic importance and abundant oil and gas reserves, and frustrated by its variable codification of commercial laws and (in some cases) capricious political stability.
Many leading GCs feel that heads of legal are ideally placed as influencers in their corporation to encourage policies and processes that foster diversity of thought – and to move away from the stereotype of a corporate world filled with middle-aged, straight, white males. Continue reading “Doing it differently”
Luis Alvarez is CEO of BT Global Services, one of the global market leaders in managed network IT services for businesses. Luis joined BT in April 1999 as multimedia and internet director, then as country manager for BT’s Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American operations. Continue reading “What I want from my general counsel – a CEO’s perspective”
As with a number of start-ups, there’s an anarchistic bent to GitHub – flirting as it does between open-source hosting, building a community among software engineers and generating profits. Continue reading “From client to colleague: why lawyers should become more like coders”
Recently, one of my colleagues who works in Kolmar’s treasury department asked me whether I liked being a lawyer. I found it curious that the question did not contemplate working in a legal capacity or doing legal work, but instead, being ‘a lawyer’ as if it is a thing. Continue reading “Welcome to lawyerland”
Ten months ago Tim Slotover became the master of his own destiny, creating his own legal services business in the Hedge Fund space. flexGC promises bespoke in-house general counsel services to asset, hedge fund and investment managers on a flexible, as-needed basis. Sound familiar? Continue reading “Flying solo”
GC: Some of the issues faced by a company such as yours are literally untested – how do you begin to tackle questions where there might be no (or very little) legal blueprint? Continue reading “The linkedin legal department – pushing the boundaries”
Once upon a time in New Mexico, there was a lawyer who was really, really good, or really, really bad, depending on your view of things. His name – or, at least, one of his aliases – was Saul Goodman, and he worked very hard for his clients to help them grow a small start-up into a business empire using the raw ingredients of over-the-counter medicine, stolen lab equipment, a dying chemist and a young punk with a memorable way with a swear word. Continue reading “Learning how to be good from the ‘bad’ guys”
In the Middle Ages, map makers would often depict a place where ships could sail off the end of the world. The dangerous straits of uncharted territory were marked by pictures of ferocious sea monsters, vividly suggesting the terrible fate in store for the unwary sailor who tried to go where there were no instructions for the journey. Continue reading “Here be dragons: starting a legal function from scratch”
Catherine McGregor: How does department structure impact on the motivation and incentives of your staff and direct reports? Continue reading “Playing it forward: team structure and motivation”