Welcome back to Inside Track. I'm Law.com in-house reporter Stephanie Forshee.

Spring is here and that means sunnier weather, bluer skies and the start of the baseball season. The Los Angeles Dodgers' general counsel, for one, is ready to play ball. He recently shared some insights on the legal issues he has dealt with in his decades at bat for the team's law department. We've also got a set of attorneys dishing about their pet peeves with the RFP process and we'll share expert advice on what to do if you get fired. (Seems it's not the end of the world if you do.) Read on …

If you have tips or story ideas or other feedback, email me at [email protected] or find me on Twitter: @InOtherNewsNow.

What's Happening –

There's No Crying in Baseball. Unless you're a lawyer who's scared of technology, apparently. Our in-house reporter on the West Coast, Caroline Spiezio, had the chance this past week to report on a talk given by the longtime top lawyer for the Los Angeles Dodgers. He spoke at Berkeley Law about the future of sports law.

Sam Fernandez joined the Dodgers back in '83 and told the crowd that he doesn't think his exact path can be replicated. Times they are a changing.

Fernandez thinks for lawyers getting into the industry now, “there are some exciting opportunities relating to technology and the impact of how we present the game … Not only how we present the game on cable, but also how we present the game at the ballpark, from digital ticketing, the kind of information you get at the ballpark, all of those things are just developing now, and how we interact with our customers.”

There's a catch! While tech is important and helpful and all that, Fernandez said not to be “seduced by technology to skip the steps necessary to generate good work.” In other words, your legal docs still need a thorough look.

Have You Heard? Anyone who has participated can tell you that the RFP process can be…frustrating, to say the least. My editor on the in-house desk, Rebekah Mintzer, hosted her very first Legal Speak podcast this week (and it was fab). She spoke with Lisa Konie, senior director of legal ops at Adobe and Toby Brown, chief practice management officer at Perkins Coie, about the issues legal professionals face around RFPs.

Rebekah told me she didn't realize the two would be so aligned in their “pet peeves” around the RFP process.

Here's what she had to say afterward: “They both seemed to think that law firms were overly verbose in responding to these requests and that both law firms and departments can get too shy about asking each other questions that would help focus firm pitches and provide the information that legal departments really want to know when choosing a firm. It seems that law firm lawyers, especially, are worried about sounding unintelligent or uninformed if they ask too many questions about what the law department wants in the pitch.”

One question that Rebekah raised, but didn't make the final cut of the podcast, is whether or not a company's procurement department should be involved in the RFP process.

Here's what Lisa said: “My law firms are not widgets, they are not vendors. So, I don't have procurement get involved in my RFPs with my law firms because they are partners and it's a relationship. And it is a very very different engagement than if you are still in that position of trying to think about a client or firm as just a recipient or provider of services.”

➤➤ What do you think, readers? Do you get the corporate procurement department involved in RFPs? Why or why not? Email me.

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Protectors of the Data. The GDPR is nearly upon us. The regulation requires that companies appoint a data protection officer to oversee compliance with these new privacy rules. My colleague, Caroline, took a look at what characteristics companies are looking for when hiring a DPO (P.S. Uberand Facebook are in the market.)

Here are a few thoughts from Caroline's sources:

➤ Dana Simberkoff is the chief risk, privacy and information security officer at AvePoint. When seeking a DPO, she thinks “you need to have someone who understands the difference between paper-based compliance and real compliance.”

➤ While many DPOs will come from a legal background, compliance or security pros with a focus on privacy would be good candidates too, she says.

➤ Who will this person will report to? Seb Matthews, CEO of extaCloudsaid that a DPO would likely report to the top legal or privacy officers. That's “largely because corporations need articulable hierarchy to function!” Matthews stressed to Caroline in an email.

➤ Even though a legal background isn't a pre-req for the role, Matthews said it's important for companies to ensure legal resources, including counsel, are available to that person.

“We've had many copycats try to leech off our investment, hard work and goodwill, and while I'll protect our IP and ensure agreements with manufacturers, the best defense is multi-prong: Invest and innovate and deal with the copycats firmly if necessary. But while they're copying, we're continuing to invest and innovate and that will always keep us a step or two ahead.”

— Casper Sleep general counsel Jonathan Truppman on how he protects his company's intellectual property.

Question of the Week –

Do you have a pressing question you'd like answered? If so, send it my way.

Here's this week's question:I just got fired. How bad is this for my career?

Getting fired is one of the most stressful experiences a professional can go through. I am truly sorry that this has happened to you.

Since this still is very fresh, there will be little I can say to take the sting or shock away. Those feelings will go away with time. But discussing the ramifications and strategies to move forward may help put things in perspective and get you geared up and ready for the next chapter in your career.

Getting fired is not the end of the world … or your career. Far from it.

Professionals are fired every day, in every way, at every level. And for various reasons too—from illegal behavior to politics to just a plain ol' bad fit. So it's a common occurrence in the business world that employers and employees deal with daily. With this said, getting fired is not something to take lightly. It's a serious event that deserves serious consideration and self-reflection if you want to learn from this situation and evolve.

➤ Before you are ready to get back in the job market, it will be important to reflect on this situation and analyze what didn't work and why. Once you gain this insight, you will grow as a lawyer, a colleague and a person. It will also help you in your future interviews and in your next role. So rewind the tape and take a close look before getting back into the game.

➤ Nobody these days gets fired out of the blue without any warning. There are always signs and signals—direct and indirect—that things are amiss. Your first step is to identify and dissect these past warnings. It won't be easy or enjoyable, but if you want to become better you'll need to learn from your mistakes and others who may have made theirs.

➤ There's no way around it. With a pad of paper and a pen, write down a list of names: The names of the internal and external clients; and colleagues with whom you worked the closest. Next to each name, write the answers to the questions below:

The Working Relationships: What was the nature of the working relationship? How often did you work together?

The Signs: Were there any personality clashes? If so, what were they and why? How did you deal with them … or didn't you? If you did, were you successful at harmonizing the relationship? Why or why not? Were there any complaints or comments about your performance/behavior? If so, what were they?

➤ Did you address the issues—if so, how? Were any of your performance reviews negative? If so, in what way? Did you work on addressing the issues? Did it work? Why or why not?You: How was your general attitude? Were you unhappy about anything at work? Did you have any resentments or negative feelings? Did you do anything to resolve negativity?

➤ After compiling this information, a picture will emerge that will help you see things a bit more clearly.

➤ Now, on a separate piece of paper, list each issue, problem or negative dynamic that you identified above and write next to each … What you would do differently now; and the best solution or course of action you will take next time—to either prevent the situation or to deal with it more effectively.

➤ Be specific. Microscopic. If you're not sure what the best solutions are, ask an expert, colleague or friend for guidance.

Your goal is to come out of this experience with a better handle on what went wrong and how to mitigate and avoid such issues in the future. You'll also have greater self-awareness.

➤ Nobody wants to hear those dreaded words of sayonara. When it does happen, it's numbingly real. But life goes on and so will your career. I promise. But where it goes from here is entirely up to you. So learn from the past, move forward … and don't look back.

Onward and upward!

— Julie Brush, founder/author of The Lawyer Whisperer and co-founder of Solutus Legal Search.

Don't Miss –

Tuesday, April 24. Global Leaders in Law will hold a session on “What Do You Do If Your CEO Resigns?” in Vienna. GLL is an invitation-only membership group, offering GCs a global platform for in-person collaboration to exchange ideas and receive advice and guidance from peers. For more information, contact Meena Heath at [email protected].

Sunday-Tuesday, April 29- May 1. The In-House Counsel World Summit in Toronto is themed: Beyond Borders: Business and Law in the Global Village.The Canadian Corporate Counsel Association's national conferenceis meant to embody the present and future of in-house counsel — both in Canada and abroad.

Monday-Tuesday, May 21-22. The Marketplace Risk Management Conference will be held in San Francisco. More than 300 tech companies will be represented, including the GCs of Airbnb, Lyft, Instacart and Sittercity. The conference focuses on risk management for web and mobile marketplaces.

Thursday, June 14. The American Lawyer and LegalWeek will present the Transatlantic General Counsel Summit 2018 in London. The summit provides a platform for some of the most elite general counsel in the U.K., Europe and U.S. to identify and determine the meaningful difference the legal function can make when contributing to a company's strategy.

On the Move –

GC of Steel. On Monday, Duane Holloway joined U.S. Steel as its new general counsel, replacing Suzanne Rich Folsom, who left the company this past December. Holloway most recently led the legal department of Ascena Retail–parent to Ann Taylor and others.

Turning Over a New Leaf. This week Adam Wergeles joined Leaf Group–home of Saatchi Art, Society6 and Livestrong.com–as its new GC. Most recently, Wergeles led the legal function at home service company Serviz. Before that, he was CLO at ReachLocal, where he led the company through its IPO.