As technology is playing a bigger role in our lives, social media is also consuming more time in our lives.
As a recent report states, “the typical user now spends 2 hours and 25 minutes on social media each day, equating to roughly one full waking day of their life each week.” I consider myself
Major League Baseball (MLB) is my favorite sport and tomorrow is MLB’s Opening Day 2021. In honor of Opening Day, there are lessons that all in-house counsel can learn from the great sport of baseball about the importance of versatility.
One of my favorite baseball players is Javier (“Javy”) Baez and he plays for the
When I was a kid growing up in the 1980s, Air Supply was a popular music duo with songs like “Lost in Love,” “All Out of Love,” and “Even the Nights are Better.” Nowadays, another phrase with the word “supply” in it – supply chain – is becoming popular across Corporate America and for in-house
There’s so much that we can all learn from the iconic Hank Aaron – who sadly passed away last month at the age of 86. When I discovered my favorite sport of baseball as a young boy, Hank Aaron was one of the first baseball stars that I looked up to, I proudly collected his
Last week I learned that one of my senior business clients – who is a Microsoft Corporate Vice President – took on a new leadership position within Microsoft. While I was initially disappointed since she’s an outstanding leader and I worked hard to build a trusted advisor relationship with her, I also know that this
As we honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday and reflect upon his legacy, it’s an important reminder that the two professions that I love and which I’ve devoted my professional career to – the legal and high tech industries – have much more work to do to advance diversity and inclusion.
We all know
A few years ago I attended a terrific Chicago Crain’s Business annual breakfast panel of local General Counsels in the Chicago area. The panel moderator posed a question asking the panelists to share some best practices for in-house counsels when communicating with senior leaders and one of the panelists said that it’s important to “be
After a very challenging 2020, it’s great to see 2021. Happy New Year!
While I know that many folks make official New Years resolutions, I have never been much of a New Years resolutions type of guy. We need to constantly change as lawyers or we risk irrelevancy – and the same can also be
Yesterday I learned of the unfortunate death of Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Phil Niekro. Sadly, Mr. Niekro is the 7th Hall of Fame player that has died in 2020 and a few months ago I wrote about two of those baseball immortals here. I’m a big baseball fan and every time I
After an unprecedented and highly tumultuous year in 2020 we are all looking forward to a new year in 2021! 2021 will continue to present important opportunities and challenges for in-house counsel. Here’s my “Top 5” focus areas for corporate counsel and their legal departments in 2021:
Continued Covid-19 Impact: While we end 2020 with
Last week I delivered a presentation to our Microsoft Legal Department Latinx employee community about strategies for remaining visible – and increasing your visibility – in the workplace despite working in a remote environment. As we all know not being physically in the workplace with our teammates can present unique challenges for us in getting
During this past week two icons from the baseball world – Lou Brock and Tom Seaver – sadly passed away. They largely played during the same era and according to ESPN, as a hitter Mr. Brock faced Mr. Seaver as a pitcher 157 times – that was Mr. Brock’s most plate appearances against any
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella likes to say that “trust cannot be claimed – it can only be earned.” As in-house counsel we must always remember that we need to earn the trust and confidence of our clients every day as we need to view them as our ultimate customers – and especially now more than
Last month I served as a speaker on an Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) – Chicago Chapter webcast entitled “Writing a global pandemic playbook – Crisis control: Effectively managing teams and protecting organizations in the era of COVID-19 cyber-attacks and insider threats.” During this webcast I shared my thoughts regarding my “lessons learned” during the
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a big impact on many in-house legal departments. Some in-house counsel are busier than ever before addressing a wide range of legal issues that have arisen due to the COVID-19. In addition, the budgets of some in-house legal teams may be negatively impacted due to the crisis. As a result,
Last week I had the privilege to serve as a panelist at a Northwestern Pritzker School of Law event entitled “Symposium 2020: AI, the New Law Firm Attorney: Artificial Intelligence Entering the Legal Profession.”
The event’s keynote speaker Seyfarth Shaw Chair Emeritus Stephen Poor and our panel explored the growing impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI)