The general counsel of Rivian Automotive, the newly public electric truck-maker with a market value higher than either Ford or General Motors, had been a corporate transactional attorney for a dozen years when company founder and CEO RJ Scaringe persuaded him to take the in-house plunge four years ago.

"The more we talked, the possibilities seemed virtually endless," said Neil Sitron, who was a lawyer at Crowell & Moring in Washington, D.C., at the time. "RJ has this magnetism. He feels so passionate about electric vehicles and, more importantly, sustainability."