In January 2012, I’ll be entering my second semester of teaching Coporate Counsel at Capital University Law School in Columbus, Ohio. I created the course, with a bit of inspiration from a fellow adjunct teaching a similar course at a west coast law school and from 16 years of law practice, nearly 1/2 of which has been in an in-house setting.
To share with you a bit of my professional background, I am currently the General Counsel – Americas at Mettler-Toledo, Inc. in Columbus, Ohio. With nearly $2 billion in annual revenue, Mettler-Toledo is the world’s leading manufacturer of precision weighing instruments. In this role, I am responsible for managing the legal affairs for the North American operations and subsidiaries, including corporate governance, employment, commercial contracts, and litigation. In addition, I was formerly in-house counsel at Volkswagen of America, Inc. and serve on several boards, including Secretary/Treasurer for the Columbus-Franklin County Finance Authority.
The American Bar Association estimates that approximately ten percent of lawyers practicing in the United States currently work in governmental or non-governmental in-house roles. Interestingly, approximately 80 percent of attorneys actively seeking positions are interested in these in-house opportunities. In response to these trends, several law schools around the country have begun to provide students with courses directed at teaching the perspectives necessary to succeed in an in-house environment. Nevertheless, very few law schools have courses that focus on the in-house counsel role beyond a tangential discussion of the topic in corporations or other business organizations classes.
In response to these evolving legal practice and employment trends, I developed an evening course during the Spring ‘11 semester at Capital University Law School. Course materials were compiled with permission from articles and comprehensive law summaries from the Association of Corporate Counsel, the preeminent professional association for lawyers practicing in-house.
Fundamentally, the course consisted of a survey overview of the in-house counsel role and addressed the importance of understanding the in-house legal role within a business environment. In order to maximize potential benefits of the materials, I emphasized that an understanding of the in-house role within a business setting would not only be helpful to those students interested in practicing in-house, but also to those students who aspired to work in law firms since associates or partners dealing with in-house lawyers most commonly act as the corporate client’s representative.
Under this approach, I covered hot topics, current events, and legal matters that made up the practical aspects of daily life for General Counsels in both privately-held and publicly-traded companies. For example, students reviewed issues such as commercial contracting, managing difficult employees, Sarbanes-Oxley compliance, and also partook in a class focused on work-life balance within the stress-filled legal profession.
The final course grade was based upon a paper, final presentation and class participation. Students were asked to select a legal topic relevant to a company of their choice. For example, one student presented his paper as an update to “management” on the impact that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (created under the Dodd-Frank Act) might on a major banking institution. The goal was to generate students’ interests in understanding how complex issues can be narrowly focused toward a particular industry for purposes of a management update.
So, how do you teach the role of corporate counsel to law students? I attempt to give students insight into the day-to-day challenges of a lawyer operating inside a complex business environment. My goal is provide students with a bird’s eye view in the in-house setting. There are thousands upon thousands of opportunities for law graduates to set their sight on serving as in-house counsel to small businesses, large banking institutions, government agencies, publicly-traded companies — the options are endless. Even though many roles may require years of experience, new lawyers can begin to develop the skills that make the in-house lawyer invaluable to a business. Therefore, I count it as my obligation to educate law students about the possibility of serving in these important roles. Companies rely on in-house lawyers for critical business decisions — indeed, a company’s existence might depend on the advice of internal counsel.
Now, I honestly do not recall the words “in” and “house” being spoken in the same sentence during my law school days. If I had only known then what I know now! So for 14 or so weeks, commencing in January 2012, my work to enlighten law students on the multi-faceted role of an in-house lawyer begins. . .
. . . to be continued . . .
