Traditionally the role of the general counsel was most successfully executed as a back room consigliere. More specifically, the general counsel worked on behalf of the company without bringing any attention to the company, the general counsel or the issue at hand. Can you imagine a scenario in which a GC of a publicly traded company would suggest to its shareholders at a board meeting that the U.S. government violated its Fourth Amendment rights? Or, can you imagine a general counsel who, after years of battling against state attorneys general, is now organizing GCs to work with state AGs?

Howard Beale is a fictional character in “Network,” a 1976 movie in which a television network cynically exploits a deranged former anchor's ravings and revelations about the news media for its own profit. Beale's tagline was, “I am mad as hell and I am not going to take it anymore!”

Brad Smith, general counsel and executive vice president, legal and corporate affairs, at Microsoft and Tom Sager, senior vice president and general counsel of DuPont, are two GCs that I have known and worked with over the last 15 years. Microsoft has contributed $750,000 to the Lloyd M. Johnson, Jr. scholarship. While Brad would never take credit publicly, I know firsthand he was the person who helped make it happen. Tom and I (along with seven others) are co-founders of the Minority Corporate Counsel Association.