The New Economy is fertile ground for opportunities for lawyers. As the dot-com economy develops in Texas, the burgeoning industry needs lawyers to work as general counsel. Those lawyers, in turn, have to find qualified outside counsel. The in-house lawyers at the new companies face the challenge of not only working in a legal environment where laws are changing literally from week to week, but they are dealing with the pressure of working in a business environment that’s moving at warp speed.
Seven in-house lawyers at Texas Internet-related companies were recently brought together for a roundtable discussion, where they talked about the challenges of hiring and managing outside counsel, the dynamics of the law and their own roles. The lawyers are Richard Friedman, pcOrder.com Inc.; Anna Goldberg, CompuBank; Christopher Meakin, Rx.com; James Eliasberg, Wayport Inc.; Wesley Jones, BroadJump; Chris Rao, Hoover’s Inc.; and Richard Gorelick, Deja.com. The discussion has been edited for length and style.
