After a private equity firm acquired CDI Corp. and began dividing and selling off the company’s various businesses, its general counsel was left to wrestle with a difficult choice. Brian Short could either find another in-house job, or return to private practice. 

His decision to take the latter route, becoming a partner at Ballard Spahr, hinged on two factors. First, he enjoys business transactional work. And while that’s a piece of being a GC, it’s certainly not the whole pie. The second factor? Control.