Career Management, Inhouse, Move

How risky is it to join a startup?

  • On March 7, 2026
Lawyers are risk-averse by nature; our job is to minimize risk. But the good news is if you join a startup that fails, “your career should be fine” per WSJ. A recent Yale and Cornell study of 2.2 million workers shows that while executives may be “tainted” by working at a company that failed, rank-and-file […]
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Compensation, GC, Inhouse

Roku & Snap land new GCs with huge stock grants

  • On December 14, 2025
Roku and Snap gave substantial equity grants to land their new GCs, per Corporate Counsel/Recorder. In November, Roku hired Chris Handman, a veteran GC including at Snap, and gave him a $9.2M equity grant that vested quarterly over two years. Two weeks after Roku’s hire, Snap hired Zachary Briers from Munger Tolles and awarded him a […]
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Inhouse, Interview, LinkedIn

4 Changes in Recruiting Lawyers over the last 20 Years

  • On September 27, 2025
I’ve been recruiting lawyers in the Bay Area for 20 years now! Four ways in-house recruiting has changed: No more suits in interviews (except maybe for public biopharmas)! Business casual is almost always acceptable. You can ask your recruiter or contact at the company what is the norm. A component of the interview process can […]
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Compensation, Inhouse

Rule of Thumb on In-House Comp

  • On September 22, 2024
The top lawyer’s pay at a company generally won’t be more than the top financial exec’s. So a general rule of thumb to figure out comp somewhere you can’t get insight into a legal team’s pay is look at what your financial counterpart is getting. Also, you know you won’t make more than your GC. […]
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Inhouse, Presentation

Do Companies Make “Personality Hires” within Legal?

  • On July 28, 2024
In-house legal teams care about personality — after all, their lawyers cannot scare internal clients away — but no company I know of has the luxury of making “personality hires,” which the Wall Street Journal defines as “charismatic employees [who] lay the foundations of positive corporate culture” but “leave teammates to pick up the slack.” […]
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Inhouse, Resume

Resume Refresh Part 1: Resume Words to Avoid vs Words to Use 

  • On August 13, 2023
I read with interest this post on CNBC by a career coach on the two words to avoid on your resume “at all costs.” What are they? “Responsible for.” OK those words are not ideal, but worse in my book are “handled,” “participated,” or “involved.” (Talk about vague and weak!) The point is you should […]
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Career Tips, Inhouse, Presentation

Advice NOT to Follow

  • On June 17, 2023
I see so much bad career advice. Here’s a tip by a Stanford Graduate School of Business professor that in-house lawyers should NOT follow: “If a meeting is wasting your time, leave.” He says he does this at least once a week when he’s not needed and the time could be better spent doing something […]
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Inhouse, Timing

2021 San Francisco Bay Area Legal Market Forecast: Strong!

  • On February 21, 2021
So far the 2021 economy is shaping up well. The global economy is predicted to grow 5.5% and the US 5.1%. The legal market is also looking good. Tech and life science companies (the backbone of the Bay Area economy) are doing well and driving up legal demand at firms and in-house here. Case in […]
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GC, Inhouse, Women & Minorities

Alternate Paths to GC: A Case Study

  • On September 27, 2020
The classic path to GC is to start at an Am Law firm in corporate securities, then go in-house to a capital markets team (being sure to pick up SEC, M&A, employee benefits, IR support, and other adjacent practice groups). The person would climb the corporate ladder internally or join a smaller company as the […]
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