Recently in Tales from the Legal Department Category

As any in house counsel knows, in house attorneys are a widely diverse group. You have to wear multiple hats, know different areas of law, and finally, be able to juggle multiple unrelated projects.

But the real question is: Do you know the profile of the average in house legal department?

Results from Hildebrandt's 2009 Law Department Survey shed light on the make-up of in house legal departments, and on the demographics of the lawyers working in them.

Here are some of the survey's key findings:

While most people don a costume once a year with the promise of candy, in-house counsel wear more than one hat, juggle multiple balls, and walk a mile in few different sets of shoes...and that's just on a typical day.  To help you sharpen your game and even make it look easy, here is an assortment of posts--to inform, recall, and amuse. 

Bright, talented, multitasking PR superstars...and that's just how in-house counsel describe themselves.  But how do others in the industry view their corporate counterparts?  New York criminal defense attorney, Scott Greenfield, lent his interesting perspective after attending a massive gathering of in-house counsel held in Chicago earlier in the summer, in his blog titled Simple Justice. 

In-house counsel attorneys have a unique vantage point.  They are part of a broader business but are specifically slated to act as the company's legal eyes and ears.  And, for some attorneys, a corporate counsel seat is also much sought-after for its lifestyle benefits including regular workdays sans the billable hours. 

So whether you seek a position within a corporate legal department, are new to the in-house counsel scene, or are just looking to master the domain, here are some characteristics that make for stellar in-house attorneys.

The 2009 ABA Pro Bono Publico Awards Recognize Excellence in Volunteer Legal Services

At a time when legal departments are tightening their purse-strings it is uplifting, and arguably necessary, to hear stories of practitioners beating the odds--and a sour economy--to serve the underserved.  On August 3, 2009 the American Bar Association will honor recipients of this year's ABA Pro Bono Awards.  The awards are open to individuals, law firms, law schools, government offices, in-house counsels, and other institutions. 

After the Supreme Court's decision in Massachusetts v. EPA, which found that the agency has the ability under the Clean Air Act to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from new motor vehicles, the Bush administration dragged its feet when it came to actually regulating the gases. 

The Obama administration, on the other hand, is moving forward at full speed.  On April 17, the EPA released a finding that carbon dioxide and four other greenhouse gases are harmful to public health.  This now obligates the EPA to set rules for the emissions from new automobiles.

A note to in house counsel everywhere: You aren't special.

At least that's the thrust of a post in Rees Morrison's Law Department Management Blog.

It's not like it sounds, though.  Morrison is simply taking law departments to task for engaging in "lawyer exceptionalism" - the idea that lawyers are somehow exempt from the rules and practices that govern the work of other employees within a company.  He's not actually making qualitative judgments about the lawyers themselves, of course.

Yesterday I wrote about a recent survey that showed that in house counsel were generally quite satisfied with their careers.  That trend might change rapidly, however, given the results of a new study that reveals how corporate counsel compensation has cratered recently.

According to the post in the InHouse Insider Blog, companies have begun cutting benefits like 401k matching contributions and stock options.  Also on the chopping block are bonuses, which are tied for the most part to the company's performance.  In a down economy, that means that bonuses will be small or nonexistent. 

Rees Morrison over at the Law Department Management Blog had an interesting post today about a survey that was recently cited in Researching the Law, Vol. 20, Spring 2009 at 1.

The study examined over 4,000 lawyers in its first round, then interviewed over 70 percent of the first group along with an 26% new attorneys.

The researchers found that only 2.2% of attorneys worked in house two years after they graduated.  Five years later, however, and 19% of the attorneys were working in a corporate legal department.

It's no secret that Yahoo has been tossing executives and employees aside frequently lately as the company tries to stop its long slide towards obscurity and irrelevance.  Six months ago, Yahoo's top IP lawyer, Joe Siino, left the company, and now two more attorneys have decided to jump ship. 

Reggie Davis, Yahoo's "click fraud czar" has left to become general counsel at Zynga, a video game company.  Davis was the subject of some controversy a few years back after another Yahoo lawyer, Eulonda Skyles, accused Davis of sex and race discrimination after she came back from a maternity leave.  Davis was associate general counsel at the time, and the accusation is widely credited as prompting his move into the Search Marketing Division, although Yahoo denies this.