ACC Update - May 25, 2006 (Plain Text Version)CLO Insights: Michele Mayes of Pitney Bowes on Motivating In-house LawyersLawyers are often viewed as great thinkers but not great managers—and legal successes can be significantly minimized or obliterated by leaving carnage along that road to case resolution or project completion. “Quite simply, the ‘softer side’ of managing people can be a defining skill for how successful a lawyer can be as she or he progresses within the organization. Management and leadership skills need to be actively cultivated in many in-house lawyers—particularly those who come from law firms where billable hours and revenue generation are the most important metric,” explains Michele Mayes, Senior Vice President & General Counsel for Pitney Bowes Inc. Mayes’ prior experience as the Head of Human Resources for Colgate-Palmolive brings a strong and informed perspective to how chief legal officers can best develop talent within their law departments.
Lawyers are often viewed as great thinkers but not great managers—and legal successes can be significantly minimized or obliterated by leaving carnage along that road to case resolution or project completion. “Quite simply, the ‘softer side’ of managing people can be a defining skill for how successful a lawyer can be as she or he progresses within the organization. Management and leadership skills need to be actively cultivated in many in-house lawyers—particularly those who come from law firms where billable hours and revenue generation are the most important metric,” explains Michele Mayes, Senior Vice President & General Counsel for Pitney Bowes Inc. Mayes’ prior experience as the Head of Human Resources for Colgate-Palmolive brings a strong and informed perspective to how chief legal officers can best develop talent within their law departments. Critical to the success of developing top legal talent and maintaining a motivated legal team is the leadership and tone set by the department’s chief legal officer. Since the time she joined Pitney three years ago, Mayes has implemented within her department a number of key initiatives to help define competency expectations for lawyers and develop skills and behaviors necessary for professional growth. “As the leader of my company’s legal function, motivating people, getting needed resources, putting resources in the right place, and backing lawyers when they need to make tough decisions and deliver difficult advice are important aspects of my job. I spend a lot of time on my people—giving them guidance and watching how they perform. My view is that leaders need to be willing to do this to get the value out of their people,” shares Mayes.
ACC Opposes Government Pressure Tactics on Legal FeesACC along with business groups such as the US Chamber of Commerce filed an amicus brief in a case involving employees from KPMG who had raised concerns about the Justice Department’s efforts to thwart the advancement of legal fees from companies for their executives and employees. According to the coalition’s brief, “the government’s intervention in private fee arrangements subverts the basic principles of our adversarial justice system; it places corporate counsel in the untenable situation of having to accept a prosecutor’s “culpability” determinations at face value even during the early phases of an investigation.” Get the latest news on this case and ACC’s other advocacy initiatives.
Reports from ACC’s CLO Think TanksACC has been holding a series of CLO Think Tanks around the US to allow chief legal officers to discuss key in-house issues with their peers. Plans are underway for more think tanks including one in Canada later this year. In the meantime, you can read the reports from previous think tanks, which contain the participants' insights on these topics:
Annual Meeting Offers Expanded Programming for CLOsA sell-out every year, ACC’s CLO Club is a sophisticated networking forum that hosts peer-to-peer discussion groups targeted to the unique executive practice, management, and benchmarking needs of chief legal officers in both small and larger department settings, across all industries. This year’s CLO Club will focus on a variety of topics including law department metrics and CLO as lawyer for the board. Participation is strictly limited to chief legal officers.
In addition to the CLO Club, plan to attend the new CLO Executive Leadership Series. This new track will focus on the high-level demands general counsel face on a daily basis. Topics to be addressed include protecting privilege, global compliance and protecting your law department for a rainy day. The annual meeting takes place in San Diego, October 23-25. Find out more about the program and register. Do you have new staff who need to learn the ropes? Send your staff to ACC’s first Corporate Counsel University in Toronto, June 25-27. Learn more and register. Provide Your Insight on Pro BonoCorporate Pro Bono (CPBO) is conducting a survey to gather data about legal pro bono activities among in-house attorneys. The information gathered will contribute to CPBO's understanding of in-house law department pro bono practices and will guide CPBO in its efforts to promote in-house corporate pro bono efforts. To complete this survey, please visit: http://www.snap-surveys.com/hildebrandt/hihpb/. Please be assured that your answers will be treated in the strictest confidence; they will only be used in the aggregate, and unless you indicate otherwise, you will remain completely anonymous. Corporate Pro Bono is a national partnership organization between the Association of Corporate Counsel and the Pro Bono Institute, and is working with Hildebrandt International on pro bono basis on this survey. Take the Pro Bono Challenge
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