Welcome back to Inside Track!

CBRE recently announced its legal department has taken the American Bar Association's well-being pledge.

"The pledge signifies our firm's commitment to making lawyer and staff well-being a priority. We know that building a positive culture of caring and well-being will have long-lasting, positive effects for our people, including better mental health and personal success."

In support of the pledge, CBRE held a three-hour virtual symposium for 80 attorneys and staff in its offices where they explored the connection between personal well-being, personal success and a caring workplace culture.

CBRE is a part of a growing number of corporate legal departments who have taken the pledge. 3M became the first corporate legal department to take the pledge in 2018. Other corporate legal departments that have taken the pledge include VMware Inc., Axiom, Barclays, The Jacksonville Jaguars and U.S. Bank.

"In 2020, the ABA Commission on Lawyer Assistance Programs Well-Being Committee undertook to continue and broaden the scope of the ABA Well-Being Campaign and Pledge outreach initiated by the Working Group to Advance the Well-Being in the Legal Profession to reach more legal employers, including corporate legal departments to join the Pledge," a spokesperson for the ABA said in an email to Corporate Counsel.

The pledge is a part of a broader national campaign by the ABA to promote wellness in the legal profession. The legal industry has been historically plagued by mental distress and substance abuse.

Does your legal department plan on taking the ABA's wellness pledge? Why or why not? Let me know by emailing me at [email protected].

What's Happening

Preparing For Crisis

As the internet continues to expand, a company's reputation can be made or broken depending on how it responds to a crisis. While you can't plan for emotions, it is still important to have a plan in place and not make rash decisions.

"You can have all your playbooks and checklists, and then you get into the foxhole and you really see some people rise to the occasion and you may see folks that you thought had a lot of leadership and managerial skills and in a crisis they're just not the right person," Lenor Marquis Segal, senior counsel of global litigation for ABB Power Grids, said in a panel discussion. "They're better to come back to when things calm down."

In these kinds of crises, there is tension between the legal and public relations teams. It's important to defuse that tension for the good of the company.

"I get those calls: 'We fired the employee who sent the email,'" said Tara Cho, a partner at Womble Bond Dickinson in Raleigh. "Well, now they're not going to be very cooperative with your investigation. Again, don't jump the gun or start deleting things or manipulating anything in your system until you can get the investigation completed."

Increased Regulation Sends Work To Law Firms

More legal departments are focused on bringing more work in-house. However, increased and more complex regulation has in-house counsel relying on their firms.

"In general, it is becoming a much more complex world," Susanna McDonald, the Association of Corporate Counsel's chief legal officer, said in an interview. "As the CLO of an organization, public or private, you are going to have to make strategic decisions based on the current challenges as well as your current mix of talent."

According to the 2020 Chief Legal Officers Survey, published by the ACC on Tuesday, among GCs and CLOs who plan on hiring more attorneys also anticipate the amount of work they send to firms will increase. This may have to do with 62% of GCs and CLOs anticipating regulation in their industries to go up in the next 12 months. The report found 58% of GCs expenditures have increased because of regulation.

That regulation is also impacting how GCs hire, McDonald said, recalling how she hired a deputy general counsel who had experience in cybersecurity.

"I made sure I hired someone with a lot of experience in those areas," McDonald said. "That both helped reduce outsourcing and also freed up some dollars to spend on outsourcing when needed."

Remembering Robert Bostrom

Robert E. Bostrom, who was named chief legal officer of Pier 1 Imports Inc. last year, passed away suddenly on Jan. 18 at age 67. He is remembered by those who worked with him as a trailblazing general counsel who championed diversity. Alicia S. Myara, senior vice president and principal deputy general counsel and co-chairwoman of the Pro Bono Working Group at Freddie Mac, also said Bostrom was a great advocate for diversity and pro bono work.

"He reinvigorated our pro bono program and took it to new heights, through renewed partnerships and expanded opportunities that enabled Freddie Mac's Legal Division to serve a broader array of those in need," Myara told Corporate Counsel.

Bob Ericson, a retired partner at Winston & Strawn, said he and Bostrom became close friends while working at the firm. He said Bostrom had a great perspective on matters because of his previous in-house experience.

"Bob was one of the first guys ever who had the law firm experience and in-house. At NatWest, he had a much broader perspective on things. This is a big institution with thousands and thousands of employees who would like diversity and inclusiveness, one of the better, wanted more social responsibility," Ericson said.

A funeral service will be held at St. Thomas Church on Fifth Avenue in New York on Feb. 1 at 2:30 p.m. and will be followed by a reception at Bobby Van's Steakhouse near Grand Central Terminal.

What I've Been Reading

Business is facing an unprecedented period of change, Telus chief legal officer Andrea Wood told Canadian Lawyer Magazine. Wood leads a team of 50 lawyers and has worked extensively to help drive growth through M&A. "I'm working very actively to ensure that our public discourses shine a brighter light on Telus' incredible record in the area of social purpose," Wood said.

Varun Mehta, the CEO of Factor, told the ABA Journal that his company is helping to "upskill" lawyers within large companies so they can focus on advising their businesses while Factor focuses on the execution of more transactional work.

Legal operations can advance in-house pro bono work, according to a report in the ACC's Docket. Legal operations professionals can use management expertise to coordinate the legal department's pro bono program. Because they often work directly with the CLO, they can help set the tone of the importance of pro bono from the top.

Don't Miss

Tuesday, Feb. 4 to Thursday, Feb. 6 – Law.com will be hosting the annual Legalweek conference at the New York Hilton Midtown. The featured keynote speakers this year include former deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein and Bettina Warburg, co-founder and managing partner of Warburg Serres Investments.

Friday, Feb. 21 – The Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law will be hosting the Sixth Annual Fashion Law Symposium. Speakers will include Maryann Lawrence, associate general counsel at Chanel Inc., Shane St. Hill, associate general counsel at Rent the Runway, and Gail Wheeler, general counsel at Hermes of Paris Inc. Thursday, March 5 – Corporate Counsel Business Journal will be hosting a Legal Operations Executive Forum at the Tarrytown House Estate in Tarrytown, New York. Speakers will include Andrea Colby, former IP counsel at Johnson & Johnson; Darren Guy, AIG global head of legal operations; and Brian Liss, senior vice president and deputy general counsel at Leidos.

On The Move

✦ Eli Lilly ✦ Anat Hakim left her role as the top lawyer at WellCare Health Plans to become the general counsel of the Indianapolis-based pharmaceutical company. She takes the place of Mike Harrington, who announced he will be retiring on Jan. 31.

✦ TikTok ✦ Erich Andersen has been hired to serve as the social media company's first global general counsel. Andersen spent a large part of his career working in-house at Microsoft Corp. and most recently served as corporate vice president and chief intellectual property counsel.

✦ ConEdison ✦ Deneen Donnley has been made the top lawyer of the New York-based energy company. She replaces Elizabeth Moore, who retired from the company after 10 years.

✦ MoneyGram ✦ Robert Villaseñor has been named the permanent general counsel of the Dallas-based money transfer company. He has served in that post since October when Aaron Henry left the role to become chief legal officer at CoreLogic Inc.