Bloomberg Law In-house Forum West relationships with business leaders "It's asking them a simple question like, 'How's your family?' or 'How was your weekend?' Unless you're just in the most urgent, dire straights you can almost always start off any one-on-one by saying 'How's your day going?" said Marie Oh Huber, the senior vice president of legal affairs, general counsel and secretary of eBay Inc. "Small talk. I really find that it helps." felt like I learned more about the business in that short period of time. I find it hard when you're in the office to find any meaningful time to get to know people on a meaningful level, because everyone is so jammed," Huber said. "So I try to find something in common to connect on a personal level." Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe want to be welcomed as much as you want to have a board that is functioning, " Batts said. new general counsel of San Francisco-based Square "Having a close relationship with the board is really important. One of the best pieces of advice I got as a general counsel was from one of our board members, who just said, as a general counsel you're going to be making hard calls ... but don't be in that boat alone in that decision," Whiteley said. "It stuck with me, and it's really great advice for everybody in this room. When you're making those tough calls, share the problem with whoever you can share it with and get some people in the boat with you."