Confessions of a General Counsel: Give Oxygen To The Law And Apply It To The Business
By delida costin • September 07, 2016 •Writers in Residence, Careers
This is the third part in a four-part series about IRAC as a management tool for the new general counsel. It explores ways to apply the rule of law to the specific issues in your company. *Before reading on you might like to read the first post and the second post. INTRODUCTION: WHAT IS IRAC? IRAC is the framework that every law student uses to write her first legal memo. The first section of the memo states the issue, the second section recites the rule of law, the third section applies the rule of law to the particular facts and the last section…
Confessions of a General Counsel: Hire, Hang Out and Hover To Find The Rule Of Law
By delida costin • August 06, 2016 •Writers in Residence, Careers, Firms and the Private Sector, Nonprofits and the Public Interest, Other Career Issues
This is the second post in a four-part series about IRAC as a useful management tool for the new general counsel and explores ways to find the rule of law. The first post, IRAC As A Management Tool; Start With The Problem, explored ways for the new general counsel to identify issues when she arrives at a new company. What is IRAC? IRAC is the framework that every law student uses to write her first legal memo. The first section of the memo states the issue, the second section recites the rule of law, the third section applies the rule of law to the particular facts…
Confessions of a General Counsel: IRAC as a Management Tool; Start with the Problem
By delida costin • July 06, 2016 •Writers in Residence, Careers, Other Career Issues, Law School, Choosing a Career and Landing a Job
This is the first post in a four-part series about IRAC as a useful management tool for the new general counsel and explores ways to identify issues. This is the time of year when friends reach out to me as they join new companies. The advice that I wish someone had shared with me when I joined my first executive team is this: IRAC is for more than memo writing. Embrace it and let it pave the way for you. IRAC. It is the framework that every law student uses to write her first legal memo. The first…
Confessions of a General Counsel: Getting Fired
By delida costin • June 06, 2016 •Writers in Residence, Careers, Other Career Issues, Law School, Other Law School Issues
You are going to lose your job. Maybe it's intuition. Or maybe your manager has already delivered the news to you. Maybe you've been on a performance plan so you were aware of the risks. Or maybe the news interrupted an otherwise normal day. What should you do? How should you act? Keep these tips in mind as you make the adjustment. 1. Your first step: check your cash. In reality you should have initiated this step when you were a new employee. While money is not the answer to every problem, the lack of enough of it to cover your basic…
Confessions of a General Counsel: It’s Not All About The Law
By delida costin • May 08, 2016 •Writers in Residence, Careers, Other Career Issues, Law School, Choosing a Career and Landing a Job, Issues, Balancing Private and Professional Life
It's not all about the law. All of us know this truth, but it is easy to lose its thread when we're lawyering. There are many reasons to stray outside of the legal arena. We add more value to our clients when we speak their language. We create more opportunity for ourselves when we welcome new pursuits. Plus, the reason that perhaps resonates most loudly is this: we can grab goodness and have some plain old fun. Looking for a way to take a detour from piles of to-do lists, case law and legislation? Here are three time-tested suggestions. STAY…
Confessions of a General Counsel: Are You Ready For The Top Seat?
By delida costin • April 05, 2016 •Ms. JD, Writers in Residence, Careers, Firms and the Private Sector, Nonprofits and the Public Interest, Other Career Issues, Law School, Choosing a Career and Landing a Job
So you want to be a general counsel? You've worked as a lawyer for some years and the top legal seat is starting to interest you. You've watched your bosses and other executives who sit in the top seats, but what does it all really mean? The legal department, like all enterprises, exists in a marketplace. All market participants have a few things in common. They must develop visions that define their future goals. They must design products and services that will appeal to customers, and then they must sell those products and services into the marketplace. Our technical skills as…
Confessions of a General Counsel: Grabbing Goodness
By delida costin • March 05, 2016 •Writers in Residence, Careers, Other Career Issues, Law School, Other Law School Issues, Issues, Balancing Private and Professional Life
A young woman invited me to tea. She told me that she knew the importance of networking, mentorship versus sponsorship, personal branding, leaning in and doing good work to build a career. She told me she was working on it. Then she asked a question that stumped me. She asked whether I would share the guidelines, or a framework, that I used consistently to sort specific decisions. I gave her an answer that I don't even remember, and our visit ended -- but her question lingered. It lingered because I wasn't savvy enough to ask that sort of question when…
Confessions of a General Counsel: Let Go of ‘Busy’ and Embrace ‘Focused’
By delida costin • February 04, 2016 •Writers in Residence, Careers, Other Career Issues, Law School, Other Law School Issues, Issues, Balancing Private and Professional Life
Maybe things are different at your law school, but I doubt it — law students everywhere seem to love talking about how busy they are, how they have so much to do and how late they stayed up last night. Consider this. From now through the end of your career, the workload will continue to increase, the projects will become more complicated, and your decisions will impact more and more people. If you convey a sense of panic or an inability to prioritize, your advancement will be blocked. Here are five ways to let go of 'busy' and embrace…