Welcome back to Inside Track!

What goes up must come down—and the economy is no exception. While it's been 10 years since the last recession, the economy is due for a downturn at some point in the future. So how can legal departments make sure they are fully operational during tough economic times?

Robert Graff, a partner at Major, Lindsey & Africa, said besides from implementing cost savings through the use of legal operations and legal technology, they must also be able to articulate why lawyers should not be laid off.

“I think in a recession CFOs get fixated on head count,” Graff said.

He said in-house lawyers are delivering legal services at a wholesale price. Whereas, if a company eliminates lawyers, they will be forced to go to firms.

“You've just doubled or tripled the price of your legal bill because then you do have to go out to a law firm to get the work done and you're going to pay a much higher price,” Graff said.

He said with a recession the legal work won't cost any less.

“That legal work is not going away,” Graff explained. “Smarter GCs can make that argument back to the CFOs.”

What efforts has your legal department taken to save money in a recession? Let me know by sending me an email at [email protected].

What's Happening

In-House Salaries Increase

According to a survey from BarkerGilmore, all in-house salaries increased on average 4.4% from 2017 to 2018. Law.com reporter Phillip Bantz looked at the survey and its key findings.

➤ Pay gap. Despite the overall compensation increase, there is still a pay gap between men and women. On average, women who work in-house make 85% of their male counterpart's pay. The pay disparity was mostly shown in the general counsel role. Men in the GC role made on average $630,000 while women in the same role made $537,000.

➤ Increase is slightly more for women. While the overall raise from 2017 to 2018 was 4.4%, pay for women increased by 4.5% while it was 4.3% for men. “As predicted, the data show that the in-house counsel pay gap between men and women is beginning to narrow,” said Bob Barker, managing partner at BarkerGilmore.

➤ Public technology companies pay the best. According to the report, GCs at public technology companies make the most money with an average total compensation of $919,000 while those in private tech companies brought home an average of $405,000.

Former Facebook GC Weighs In

While many have been calling Facebook a monopoly and saying the company should be broken up, the former general counsel and current chief privacy officer of the company, Chris Kelly, says the law supports keeping the social media company intact.

In an interview with MSNBC, Kelly said there is a lot of misunderstanding of antitrust law.

“One of the things that's missing in a lot of this commentary is understanding that under antitrust law you actually have to prove a monopoly first, and it's still not even close to clear that there is one for Facebook here,” Kelly said. “And then from there you have to decide whether a structural remedy is appropriate.

What I've Been Reading

Last week, the in-house IP counsel at Starbucks, Yihong Ying, told a group of conference-goers at the International Trademark Association's annual meeting that fair trade certifications in the coffee business can apply to the legal industry, according to a report in Managing Intellectual Property. Ying said because the company works in 88 different countries it needs its firms to have diverse lawyers to be able to maintain its IP portfolio.

Phyllis James, a senior attorney at MGM, has been named president of the MGM's Foundation for Women's Leadership & Empowerment, SBCAmericas reports. The organization is intended to build upon the work done by the Annual Women's Leadership Conference.

In a Q&A with New England In-House, Damon Hart, deputy general counsel at Liberty Mutual, said one of the key differences between working on employment law at firms and in-house is that at firms he had an idea of how the courts were going to decide. He said, however, that experience has helped him coach other attorneys working on employment matters. He went on to say that one of the things he finds most helpful is when outside counsel send him updates on changing laws in different jurisdictions.

Don't Miss

Tuesday, June 4 – Friday, June 7 – Harvard Law School will be hosting a Leadership in Corporate Counsel program. The program offers in-house leaders' insights into the challenges of working for a corporate legal department.

Thursday, June 6 – The Coalition for Government Procurement will be hosting an event on GSA and VA Schedule Contracting for In-House Counsel from 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Crowell & Moring's office in Washington, D.C. Topics will include resources for in-house counsel, audits, oversight and enforcement, and ethics.

Tuesday, June 11 – Global Leaders in Law will be hosting a “Be the Change” event at Rosewood in Palo Alto, California. On Tuesday, June 18 GLL will be hosting a “Changing Corporate Culture” event at D.O.M. in São Paulo, Brazil. GLL is an invitation-only membership group offering general counsel a global platform for in-person collaboration to exchange ideas and receive advice and guidance from peers. For more information, contact Meena Heath at [email protected].

On The Move

✦ Align Technology ✦ Julie Coletti was named the chief legal and regulatory officer of the company which makes Invisalign. She joined the company in 2018 as its associate general counsel, and she replaces Roger E. George (pictured) who worked as the company's CLO for 17 years. Before joining Align, Coletti worked as the general counsel and chief compliance officer of Danaher Corp.

✦ Walmart ✦ David Searle is Walmart's international chief ethics and compliance officer. His first day on the job was May 28. Searle previously served as the chief compliance officer and associate general counsel of Bristow Group Inc., a global aviation services company.

✦ Faraday Grid ✦ Nathan Fagre was hired last week as the general counsel of Edinburgh-based energy company Faraday Grid. Fagre previously worked as the general counsel and secretary of Spectrum Brands Holdings Inc. He has also worked in-house at EVINE Live Inc. and Occidental Petroleum Corp.