Michael P. Maslanka

June 15, 2005 | Law.com

Ah, summer! Time to hit the shores, trade your briefcase for a beach bag and take time to reflect, think and read. Michael Maslanka has compiled a summer reading list featuring books that will help corporate counsel work better, faster and smarter. Among his choices: a bullfighter's guide, a book that tackles the bane of many general counsel -- writing the corporate mission statement -- and a novel that features a lawyer who believes "pro bono" is Latin for "no cable."

By Michael P. Maslanka

7 minute read

November 27, 2007 | Law.com

The Bible, as literature, can help illuminate lawyers' legal lives, especially some of its dicier parts, says Ford & Harrison managing partner Michael Maslanka. The Bible -- beliefs aside -- gives lawyers what they crave: a good story with a strong establishing shot, an arc and a resolution. Trial lawyers should take note, says Maslanka, who points out several passages helpful to attorneys. And the Bible also reminds lawyers that there is a difference between what is legal and what is right.

By Michael P. Maslanka

5 minute read

September 12, 2005 | Law.com

For each yang of employee entitlement, there is a corresponding yin of employee responsibility. Knowing this helps general counsel explain to the C-level executives down the hall that the ecology of the workplace is in balance, soothing their anger, centering their decision-making and mollifying their perspective. Michael P. Maslanka examines specific cases showing how an employee sometimes needs a nudge to accept responsibility. As Maslanka puts it, that's where the GC's office comes in.

By Michael P. Maslanka

6 minute read

October 01, 2006 | Texas Lawyer

Hurricane Katrina hammered New Orleans on Aug. 29, 2005. The Twin Towers collapsed on Sept. 11, 2001. Power outages afflict cities across the United States as we write these words. Are executives and their companies now any better prepared to handle emergencies, whatever their nature?

By Michael P. Maslanka and Burton Brillhart

7 minute read

September 28, 2010 | Corporate Counsel

This summer I did a fair amount of lawyering and some thinking about lawyering. Specifically, how can the latest in cognitive theory help corporate counsel get their jobs done and make the mission?

By Michael P. Maslanka

8 minute read

April 05, 2004 | Texas Lawyer

Mediators forget their core value: a clear-eyed and independent assessment of a case and its value.

By Michael P. Maslanka and Theresa M. Gegen

7 minute read

March 11, 2011 | Law.com

Poetry about lawyers teaches them about themselves: who they are, what they do and how others perceive them, says attorney Michael P. Maslanka. He discusses several poems about lawyers and the practice of law that may help provide attorneys with some perspective and inspiration.

By Michael P. Maslanka

5 minute read

January 25, 2007 | Law.com

Most things are not good in the extreme, and that goes especially for work. Despite that fact, employees are working too hard, and that's not good for business. So what's a company with exhausted employees to do? It's the general counsel, the adviser and counselor to the company, who's often in the best position to put the work lives of the executives, managers and employees into better balance. With that in mind, Ford & Harrison managing partner Michael P. Maslanka provides tips to help stop the madness.

By Michael P. Maslanka

8 minute read

November 24, 2008 | Texas Lawyer

We think we shape life. That's wrong. Life shapes us. All readers know how they first learned this. Here's my story, one that will help corporate counsel when it comes to deciding whether to impose the equivalent of capital punishment in employment: termination.

By Michael P. Maslanka

6 minute read

August 01, 2011 | Texas Lawyer

Michael P. Maslanka sasys it's time for his annual summer reading suggestions for corporate counsel. So pack the sunscreen, fire up the eReader and don the Hawaiian shirts. He leads his list with Paul Auster's latest novel, "Sunset Park," which he calls "a beautiful work of art on what it means to be human, and the strength and optimism it gives each of us."

By Michael P. Maslanka

7 minute read