When Steve Fulton was first offered the position of general counsel of Respironics Inc. in 1995, he turned it down. He was content in his current position as equity partner with Reed Smith, where he handled a full range of employment-related matters from counseling and negotiating to litigation. He enjoyed his 11-year practice at the Pittsburgh-based law firm and had no intention of leaving.
But Respironics, one of the clients that he served, had reached the size where it felt that it needed a general counsel to round out its executive management team and to advance to the next level. The company’s management had its sights set on Fulton and kept coming after him.
