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Increased Risks for GCs

This past year presented some tough issues for in-house counsel, and 2007 will likely continue to present liability risks according to this post from Wired GC. Quoting from an article by Susan Friedman in New York Law Journal, Wired GC writes:

Of note, according to Ms. Marsh, are these issues:

In 2006 in-house attorneys were confronted with a myriad of potential exposures, many of which will continue through 2007 and beyond. The highlights of 2006 included: §307 of SOX, backdating stock options, new rules of federal civil procedure regarding electronically stored information, the McNulty Memorandum, Federal Rule of Evidence 502, liability to outside third parties, investigating boardroom leaks, and multi-jurisdictional practice and licensing.

With all of these traps, are in-house counsel positions still regarded as attractive alternatives to law firm life?

Posted by Carolyn Elefant on February 23, 2007 at 04:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Comments

Carolyn,

I've been in the search business for 10 years and I no longer work on in-house searches. While I believe that there are many happy lawyers working in an environment (i.e where they do not have to record billable hours or generate work) I've seen a lot of the down side of going in house. In particular, I have seen how in-house jobs are much riskier than law firm positions. Yes there are substantive reasons why it can be challenging to be a GC; but there are also risks that are not always obvious to the associate who is toiling away (particularly at a large firm.)

I wrote a piece on the subject that may be of interest to some of your readers: http://www.lawyersusaonline.com/reprints/seckler38.htm

Posted by: Stephen Seckler | Feb 26, 2007 6:08:42 AM

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