Hello, readers! Welcome back to Inside Track, the best newsletter on all things in-house. I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I, for one, ate too much turkey and not enough green beans, but that's not important.

Quick poll: What's on your holiday wish list for your legal department? More attorneys? Newer tech? A raise? Let me know and I'll include a wish list in an upcoming edition of Inside Track.

Reach me at [email protected] or you can find me on Twitter @DanclarkALM.

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What's Happening-

 

What Does the GC of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Do?

If someone asked me to name one thing that John Wood does as the general counsel of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce for $1 million, I would have to phone a friend. Luckily for me (and my ambitions of appearing on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire), Law.com reporter Sue Reisinger spoke to John about his day-to-day and here are some takeaways.

➤ Fighting for business. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has a litigation center with two focuses: fighting government overreach and fighting class action abuse. Wood, a former Hughes Hubbard & Reed partner who took the Chamber job in May, said in his role he hopes to make the center more well known to companies across the country and not just to appellate attorneys in the D.C. area.

➤ Elections don't mean too much. Wood told Sue that the midterm elections won't have much of an impact on the litigation center. Wood did say that the outcome means that many of President Donald Trump's nominees for the federal bench will be confirmed which is something they keep in mind for litigation.

➤ Bringing in tech. Wood said that he is trying to develop better relationships with the technology sector. He said that even “more liberal” companies can recognize the value of the litigation center in the business community.

The $400,000 Question

Had enough of the Who Wants To Be A Millionaire references? I think there's only one more. On Tuesday, the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) released a report  which says that the average take home of a general counsel in the U.S. is $400,000 or more. That number includes salaries and bonuses.

The report was based on the Linkedin profiles of several thousand GCs and SEC filings. The report was helpful for me to read, because I got a better sense of who is working in those high pressure legal jobs and what they're paid.

I was dismayed to see that there is still a 39 percent pay gap between men and women in general counsel roles and that just one out of 10 of the top paid GCs is a woman.

Apparently, the majority of GCs live in California … High pay and never having to deal with snow seems like a pretty nice gig.

Inside Knowledge

Our advice this week comes from managing partner at BarkerGilmore, Bob Barker. He discussed the importance of making sure you're hiring the right attorneys for your legal department. No one wants one of their lifelines to be a weak link.

Bob wrote that you should have high expectations of the attorneys you hire for the legal department. “While there are many smart lawyers that operate well in the status quo, you want someone who can remain calm and retain their composure when plans A, B, and C have failed and they must go to plan D and beyond,” Baker said.

Those high expectations should include flexibility. He says that whoever you hire should be able to switch from different tasks with ease.

Culture and diversity should also be considered when hiring a new attorney for the legal team. It's important that whoever you hire fits in with the team, however, you don't want to create a “carbon copy” of the people who are already on your legal team. “Your goal is to have a team of individuals with different experiences and perspectives to prevent stagnation,” Baker said.

If you have any advice you'd like to lend to other in-house attorneys feel free to email me at [email protected] so I can put it in “Inside Knowledge.”

Don't Miss-

The Global Leaders in Law on Dec. 4 will be having an event in London on the year of change. They will be having the same event in Dublin, Ireland, on Dec. 5. GLL is an invitation-only membership group offering general counsel 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].

Wednesday, Dec. 5 - The USC Gould School of Law will be hosting the Institute For Corporate Counsel. Topics will include cryptocurrency and blockchain, international arbitration and “multi-million dollar employment law verdicts.” Speakers include Rachael Jeck, vice president and co-general counsel of VCA Inc. and California Supreme Court Justice Ming W. Chin.

Friday Dec. 7- The New York City Bar will be hosting the Corporate Counsel Symposium: Advising Through Partnering from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Topics of discussion will include privacy and cyber security, blockchain technology and disaster planning. Speakers include Michele Coleman Mayes, general counsel of the New York Public Library, and Shabbir Chaudhury, corporate counsel at Metlife.

On the Move-

 

First In And The First To Leave. Crypto company Coinbase's first chief legal officer announced on Monday that he left the company. Mike Lempres (above) has taken a job at venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. He was hired as the company's first CLO and was later made the chief policy officer of the crypto company.

Adopting A New Legal Leader. San Diego-based pet product retailer Petco has hired the former general counsel of Dole Food Company to lead its legal team. Genevieve Kelly replaces Alan Tse who held the role of general counsel since 2016. In June, Tse left Petco to work as the global GC of Jones Lang LaSalle.

Working For Two. The legal tech company Elevate Services Inc. has tapped legal operations veteran Steve Harmon as the company's new general counsel. Harmon, who's already deputy GC and legal ops chief at Cisco, will split his time between Cisco and Elevate, where he replaces Daniel Coll who left the company in June.

Going Global. One of the largest insurance companies in China, Ping An Co. announced that Steven Winegar will be its international general counsel. He will be responsible for the company's legal and compliance matters around the globe. Winegar was formerly a partner at Paul Hastings where he was the chair of the firm's Hong Kong office.

Leaving After Growth. After helping a manufacturing company during a period of growth, longtime general counsel Michael Finn announced last week that he would be stepping down as Axalta's general counsel. Finn joined Axalta in 2013. While the company looks for a replacement, Tabitha Oman, the company's vice president and deputy GC, will serve as the interim GC.