Many lawyers go in-house for saner hours. David Harland, a self-proclaimed workaholic, typically billed 2,700 hours a year as an associate. But Harland, 47, kept up the punishing hours even after moving to New York Life Insurance Company in 1989. His efforts were recently rewarded with a promotion to senior vice president and deputy general counsel.
He went to New York Life after being intrigued by an ad in the New York Law Journal, a Corporate Counsel sibling publication, and being blown away by his interview with then-GC Alice Kane. “She was a real mover and shaker and had a palpable sense of energy,” Harland says. Kane hired him as an assistant general counsel, a role he kept for two years before being made associate GC and assistant secretary. In 1995 Harland was promoted to vice president and counsel to the executive vice president and secretary.
