From left: Dan Limerick, head of business affairs, Endeavor; John Cooper, SVP and deputy general counsel, IMG; Joel Karansky, SVP, deputy general counsel and corporate secretary, Endeavor; Courtney Braun, SVP and deputy general counsel, Endeavor; Seth Krauss, chief legal officer, Endeavor; Rebecca Sanhueza, SVP and deputy general counsel, IMG and Endeavor Content; Riche McKnight, SVP, deputy general counsel and global head of litigation, Endeavor; and Tom McGuire, business affairs, WME.

Best Legal Department for Outside Counsel Management

Q: How is the role of general counsel evolving, and how have you adapted?

A: It's a very exciting time to be a general counsel. We are increasingly seen as key members of the corporate decision-making team. While our role still requires us to safeguard the company via compliance, litigation and corporate governance efforts, we are also being asked to help inform core business strategy on a global basis. We have oversight over formerly core business areas, like government relations, and are asked to proactively weigh in on countless business matters of concern. During an average day, I may be asked to advise on data security, crisis management, global geo-political issues, HR issues, investor relations and business strategy. Being at a company that has embarked on a rapid worldwide expansion, I also spend a great deal of time evaluating transactional risks. A common thread is the need for great judgment.

Q: How do you find it most effective to develop leadership skills, and to foster them in others? 

A: It's critically important to install lawyers in top in-house positions with leadership abilities, who exhibit a “can do” mindset, who see themselves as true business partners as well as a control function. It's just as important to nurture your staff and their platforms to position each for success … every role needs a defined platform, whether very narrow or very broad, and business buy-in for its existence. It's also important to offer formal and informal trainings that give younger lawyers the concepts and tools to succeed and lead in their increasingly complex roles. As part of that, our junior lawyers are assigned to work in teams with their business-side peers and colleagues across the company.

Q: What is the most effective time-management tool or technique you employ? 

A: It's critically important that you ensure your time is focused on what's important. We all know how to focus on what's on fire, but too often some of those “urgent” matters are not important matters and they take your time and focus away from critically important matters that are not yet “on fire” …. More broadly, it's really helpful to find partners for your department and company who are invested in its success. As an example, we have an incredibly close collaboration with Paul, Weiss—for many of our most critical, sensitive and fast-moving matters. Having a firm that knows us extremely well and that we trust means that we waste less time in managing the relationship; in each transactional or litigation matter, no matter how complex or fast-moving, we have experienced teams who can “hit the ground running.”

Q: What is your best advice for in-house lawyers trying to make an impact, with their corporate clients and beyond?

A: I advise younger lawyers to go both broad and deep; broad, in that you need to be a consummate generalist, with work experiences in a variety of settings and within a variety of business units. Stretch yourself in each case, and don't be afraid to take risks. But you also need to go deep, to become the best lawyer you can. In my career, for example, I worked my way up first in the Manhattan DA's office, ultimately becoming part of the team that prosecuted two major NY-based banks for each's role in Enron's collapse. Then I moved to Wall Street, working my way up the in-house ladder before jumping at an opportunity to become the general counsel of a publicly listed video-game developer in the midst of a stock-options back-dating scandal.