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

It's been another busy week here at ALM. Our team is welcoming a new reporter this week. Daniel Clark will be covering legal departments from our Philadelphia office. Welcome, Daniel!

In this edition of our briefing, my colleague Sue Reisinger has been busy searching through public records she obtained from Michigan State University regarding the sex abuse scandal that led to the resignation of the school's former GC. Find out what she learned…

Plus, Law.com journalists are at Corporate Legal Operations Consortium's annual institute in Vegas this week. And they have been gambling away– I mean, reporting, yes–reporting away. Caroline Spiezio got some diversity tips at CLOC from in-housers at Starbucks, Oracle and Northwestern Mutual.

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

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What's Happening –

 

 

Notes on a Scandal. Reporter Sue Reisinger has written several insightful pieces on the Larry Nassar sex abuse scandal at Michigan State University. She recently requested records from MSU on how the school dealt with the legal side of the scandal.

As Sue previously reported, former MSU GC Robert Noto resigned under pressure in February. Sue filed a FOIA request in March, only to learn she'd have to wait a few weeks due to the “unprecedented number of FOIA requests” the university had received.

Paper Trail. So later in the month, Sue received 71 pages of information in response. “All of it was relevant,” she told me, “but it also raised more questions in my mind that I needed to answer before I could start writing.” So the following day, she filed a second request and got another 73 pages of info.

That's how she uncovered that Robert Noto received roughly $436,000 in severance.

Sue also learned in her reporting that the scandal “has spurred no fewer than 10 separate investigations or inquiries by public bodies,” and that “at least one of the inquiries has already returned a scalding report about MSU's failures.”

You can read more about the long list of investigations here.

D&I at CLOC. Over at the big CLOC meeting in Las Vegas, Caroline Spiezio has heard from several in-house leaders about what they want and expect from their outside counsel. Caroline tells me that high on that wish list is–you guessed it–diversity and inclusion, especially on the gender front.

Here are some of the ways companies at CLOC are trying to make their workforce and their outside partners more diverse.

Lisa Kremer Brown, managing director of operations and strategy for law and corporate affairs at Starbucks, said when the coffee chain looks at diversity (so as to avoid, ahem, implicit bias), it examines its employees and vendors, including outside firms.

➤ “When retaining outside counsel, the department encourages our lawyers to ensure that we're selecting firms that uphold our diversity and inclusion expectations,” Brown said.

➤ Starbucks also surveys its top 25 firms to assess D&I. It's done this for the past 10 years and looks at criteria including turnover and promotion to partnership. The firm with the best record on diversity receives an award.

At Oracle, senior legal ops program manager Sophia Davis makes D&I metrics part of partner law firms' business reviews.

➤ “We also utilize data from our tracker, e-billing system and our HR reporting,” she said.

And at Northwestern Mutual, director of legal ops and technology Lisa Brzycki said it's just as important to look in-house as it is to examine outside counsel, when it comes to diversity.

➤ “When you say, 'ask outside counsel,' ask inside. You'll be surprised what answers you get,” she said.

➤ The company also holds regular unscripted roundtables to discuss inclusion within the department and has a mentorship program with a local high school to boost the pipeline of diverse lawyers.

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'm near the end of a job interview process and still don't know the compensation range for the position. When and how should I ask without sounding greedy?

➤ No two search processes are alike. And when it comes to disclosing … or discussing a position's compensation range, the timing of this talk-thread can be quite different in each process. For some, “comp” is deliberately discussed at the very beginning to qualify a candidate's viability upfront. For others, it's a topic that remains unaddressed until it's time to talk turkey. But waiting to discuss money until the interview process is at completion is not a wise move.

This might be easier said than done … as many candidates are uncomfortable raising the topic of compensation in the interview process. Why? Because they don't want to be perceived as solely caring about money, being greedy or having their priorities out of whack. So, they stay silent out of fear and wait for the employer to start the money dialogue.

➤ But inquiring about compensation does not have to be such an unsavory task. It can be empowering and demonstrate confidence depending on how … and when you ask.

➤ And as a candidate, it's important to be cognizant of compensation as you engage in an interview process—and gather this information before either party has invested too much time.

➤ As you assess the interview dynamics, use your best judgment regarding the appropriate time to raise the issue if an employer does not raise it.

In your situation, you are in the “final stages” of your interview process. And you and the employer have invested time and effort to get to this point. But despite your proximity to the finish line, you are still unaware of the compensation range for the position. And depending on the numbers, you could be pulled back to the Starting Line.

➤ So at this late stage, this lack of material information is not ideal—because if there is compensation misalignment, the time by both parties will not have been well spent. So my recommendation at this juncture is to address the compensation topic in your next conversation with HR or the hiring manager.

So what's the most effective way to raise the subject without the risk you'll be perceived negatively?

Below are a few recommendations:

Message #1:
Employer: “So, do you have any questions at this point?”

Candidate Response #1: “Yes—It's been such a great process and I've been so engaged in getting to know everyone that I realized we never discussed the compensation range for the position. If you have any information available, that would be terrific.”

Candidate Response #2: “The role sounds very appealing and I'm very interested in the opportunity. Do you have a sense as to the compensation range for the position?”

Message #2
“Hi Robert, I really enjoyed my meetings on Monday with the executives and wanted to reach out to see if you could provide me with the compensation range for the position. We haven't had the opportunity to discuss it in the process so it would be great to know what the target range is for the role.

Message #3
“Thank you for taking so much time to meet with me Susan. The opportunity seems like it would be a great fit for both of us. Would you happen to know the compensation range for the position? I've been so focused on learning about the position and getting to know everyone that I haven't had that conversation with anyone in the organization. Any information you might be able to provide would be terrific.”

➤ Raising the topic of compensation is rarely easy for a candidate, but it is important information to have when interviewing for a job that interests you.

➤ It's best to gather this information sooner rather than later, but if you find yourself near the end of an interview process without the numbers, I recommend you kick the comp inquiry into high gear.

➤ And inquire strategically in order to maximize your chances of a positive … and successful outcome.

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

“Each of us have a story…[Mine] is characterized by some incredible men who sponsored me along my journey, and then some people along the way who tried to take me down a few notches.”

— Santa Fe Group chief legal officer Janet McCarthy speaking on a panel about gender inequity in the law on Sunday at the CLOC conference in Vegas

 

Don't Miss –

 

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 conference is meant to embody the present and future of in-house counsel — both in Canada and abroad.

Wednesday, May 2. Global Leaders in Law will hold a session on “Changing Corporate Culture” in Sydney. On Thursday, May 3, there will be another session, this time on “Artificial Intelligence” in Dublin. 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].

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.

Tuesday-Wednesday, May 22-23. SuperConference 2018, hosted by Corporate Counsel, will take place in Chicago. The conference delivers the key insights and practical solutions today's general counsel need to manage and better leverage C-Suite relationships, prevent/mitigate the risks of a cyber attack, successfully overcome a litigation crisis, do more with fewer resources and much more. Speakers include in-house lawyers from Aon, GE, Groupon, Kayak, Discover, Microsoft and Yum! Brands.

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 –

 

 

A Snowflake in Cali. Margo Smith has joined Snowflake Computing, a data enterprise software startup, as chief legal officer. She joined the company from Apttus, where she spent only 10 months as legal chief. Prior to that, Smith was GC of Marketo.

Second in Command. This week, Microsoft announced the promotion of deputy GC Dev Stahlkopf to the role of general counsel and corporate vice president. Stahlkopf will report to CLO Brad Smith. According to the company, she will lead the new legal affairs team within Microsoft's Corporate, External and Legal Affairs Department.

Looking at the Data. It was announced this week that Tricia Timm has joined data company Looker as its general counsel and corporate secretary. Timm most recently served as GC and SVP of SugarCRM, and previously as acting general counsel at software maker Borland.