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

In recent months, many in-house lawyers have been grappling with the implications of the #MeToo movement for their companies. I spoke to one of these attorneys, TED Conferences' general counsel Nishat Ruiter, who opened up to me about the harassment that has taken place at the organization's past events, and how TED is trying to make sure it doesn't happen again.

We've also got some tips for in-house lawyers looking to brush up on their soft skills. And you won't want to miss a piece from one of my colleagues about Facebook's challenges around GDPR.

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

What's Happening –

A #MeToo Problem. Last year, when TED held its main annual conference in Vancouver, several sexual harassment complaints surfaced and two men were asked to leave the event. Months later, the nonprofit organization known for its 18-minute talks was the focus of a piece from The Washington Post about the misconduct complaints from multiple women, including TED's general counsel.

In her first interview since the issues were reported, TED GC Nishat Ruiter spoke with me about what has been done to address the issue of harassment.

Nishat declined to comment directly on the report by the Post that published a leaked email in which she claimed she herself been touched inappropriately at a TED event, citing attorney-client privilege. But I was impressed by how transparent she was about the big steps she and TED have taken to combat potential harassment:

➤ A top priority was updating TED's code of conduct. TED's new rules are brief and more straightforward than before. The code lets attendees know they should report bad behavior, and should speak up even if someone is aggressively pushing services or products.

➤ “It's not just the rules that matter,” Ruiter told me. “It's the culture underlying the rules that matter. For example, is there openness to reach out? Is there a process to hear a diversity of perspectives?”

➤ Attendees were also shown how to report incidents in messages leading up to TED's big 2018 conference start date, and the conference app, TEDConnect, helped make reporting easier and clearer. Upon logging into the app, attendees saw a “TEDNow” button with “hints about the code of conduct” and prompts asking if they needed to report an incident.

➤ “We made it super transparent,” Ruiter said of the reporting process. “It wasn't like you have to dig and find out how to do this. … We did that for a reason.”

At the main TED conference this April, by the way, Nishat said no one was asked to leave.

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Soft Skills. My colleague Caroline Spiezio had another great piece this past week about how in-house lawyers need to focus on more than just the law. It doesn't hurt to add public speaking and projecting confidence to their skill sets…

Caroline's piece focused on some of the speakers who discussed soft skills at last month's CLOC institute:

Cara Hale Alter, the founder and president of SpeechSkills, a communication training company, said that the task of convincing company leaders to follow legal advice they don't want to hear can be daunting. So, credibility is crucial.

➤ Alter said lawyers can project confidence with their posture and speaking skills. One trick is to focus on avoiding saying “um” when speaking.

➤ Alter told CLOC attendees they should put themselves in uncomfortable situations to overcome fear. Something she tried was asking a waiter to sing her “Happy Birthday”…even though it wasn't her birthday. (Awwwwkkward.)

➤ As for gaining confidence, Alter said, “It's about how to a carry yourself with leadership presence, how to project visible credibility…It means the people you speak to immediately your value, your contribution, your expertise.”

Facebook Troubles. My colleague Ian Lopez wrote a really informative piece about Facebook and the challenges it's looking at as the GDPR deadline approaches.

A lot of companies have gotten caught up on the GDPR's consent clause, and for good reason. Ian wrote about how consent to use EU citizens' data isn't required “if a business is unable to function without collecting certain user data.” It could be considered a contractual necessity, which creates a “gray zone” for Facebook and others, according to SecurePrivacy.AI founder Dan Storbaek.

For example, some of Facebook's collected data includes information like users' salary and religious affiliation, which Storbaek noted are categories where companies “definitely need to get consent from the users.”

“One of the biggest challenges they have is, for almost decades, they've been collecting data. If they don't have consent for the data they have about me, they won't be able to use that data for ads moving forward after May 25, so they basically have to collect my consent or agree on what kind of lawful processing they will do with the data they already have about me,” Storbaek said.

And then Addleshaw Goddard's Ross McKenzie, a UK partner, pointed out that one of the biggest challenges for Facebook comes with GDPR Article 12. This requires organizations to be transparent with how they intend to use data from users.

He said consent has to appear “in a way that is easy to understand, using clear language.”

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:
Is there such thing as being too aggressive in today's job market?

The Background:
A hiring manager conducted a search to add a mid/senior level lawyer to her team. She received several resumes that were referred to her by current employees. One person's background looked especially good so an interview was scheduled. Before that meeting, the candidate contacted three internal employees with whom he had a weak connection and asked them questions about the company and the role. Those employees alerted the hiring manager. The candidate also had three outside individuals email or call the hiring manager to recommend him for the position.

The Outcome: Interview cancelled.

This hiring manager was so put off by the aggressive actions of this candidate she cancelled the interview and rejected his candidacy. And nothing could be done to revive it. Game over. Not only that, this candidate's reputation was now forever tainted in the eyes of the employer.

➤ Unfortunately, this scenario is becoming ever more common in today's legal market and is spiking the candidacies of many otherwise qualified lawyers. Competition for jobs is fierce and lawyers are using everything in their bag of tricks to secure advantages. It's smart and necessary to think strategically, but sometimes the desire to win is so great that it clouds judgment and candidates resort to head scratching tactics to get ahead. And the consequences are almost always bad.

➤ Being a “good candidate” requires skill, emotional intelligence, excellent judgment and above all, plain ol' common sense. How you behave in the process can speak volumes to an employer about what type of colleague and professional you will be – good or bad.

➤ Being overly aggressive can (and usually does) send one or more of the following messages: (1) You are desperate (2) You are pushy (3) You are disrespectful (4) You have poor judgment (5) You are not trustworthy (6) You are a poor listener (7) You are unpredictable. In other words…a non-starter.

➤ Contacting employees you don't know well (or even know fairly well) in an organization to “pick their brains” about the company or the role is a poor decision for a multitude of reasons. For example, what if the search was confidential? The ramifications of breaching this confidentiality could have serious consequences for the hiring manager and the legal team. This is why it is absolutely imperative to think. before. you. act.

➤ In addition, asking professionals with a credible connection with the hiring manager to put in a good word for you is ok … as long it's not overkill. One person, fine. Two, maybe. But any more than that and you are wading in dangerous territory that can compromise your candidacy.

➤ I understand these candidate actions are not based on maliciousness or ill intent, but rather a desire to compete as effectively as possible. Which is why it is even more important to understand the unspoken rules of the job application process. Being too aggressive can draw a foul and sabotage a candidacy. So if you're a candidate in today's market, I recommend that you keep a loose grip on wanting and needing to win so badly …

➤ And you'll find that your judgment will be more sound—and your professional choices much wiser.

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

Don't Miss –

Tuesday, May 15. Global Leaders in Law will hold a session titled, “What Do You Do If Your CEO Resigns?” in Minneapolis. The same day, a session will be held on “Changing Corporate Culture” in Athens. 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].

Thursday, May 17. Check out the Asian American Bar Association of New York's General Counsel Panel and Reception. Legal chiefs at AIG, Bank of America, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Newell Brands, Carter's and Visa will be participating.

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

Tuesday-Wednesday, May 22-23. Corporate Counsel will host SuperConference 2018 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 and mitigate the risks of a cyber attack, successfully overcome a litigation crisis, and 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 –

Anchoring Legal. This just in… FOX News has appointed Lily Fu Claffee as the general counsel for the news network. She was most recently GC at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. FOX News' EVP of business and legal affairs Dianne Brandi, who has been named a defendant in at least four lawsuits involving the network, will remain on voluntary personal leave, FOX News said. Brandi had been accused of failing to investigate claims of harassment and discrimination within the network, though she has denied these allegations.

Moving Day. Real estate company Zillow is losing its CFO to retirement. Kathleen Philips serves in the dual role of chief financial officer and chief legal officer, and will drop the financial piece of that this month. She's staying on as CLO until the end of this year, and will advise the company on legal and financial matters through her retirement in 2020. Zillow GC Brad Owens remains in his current role.

Really Smooth. Michael Sukenik joined Smoothie King as its new VP and general counsel. He most recently worked at the KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut-parent Yum! Brands, directed legal affairs internationally, with a focus on Latin America and the Caribbean.

Cannabis, Eh? Christelle Gedeon will step in as the first legal chief for Canadian medical marijuana company Aphria in June. She moves there from Fasken where she is a partner. She landed the gig after working as outside counsel for Nuuvera, a medical cannabis firm acquired by Aphria.