In House Tech

Q&A

'The Law Is Trying to Catch Up': A Chat With Newly Minted Crypto CLO Veronica McGregor of ShapeShift

Caroline Spiezio | September 20, 2018

"The biggest challenges are, as with any new technology, figuring out which, if any, existing laws apply to you," said the former Goodwin Procter lawyer. "And finding a way to comply with those laws, if you decide they apply to you, in such a way that you don’t destroy your business or the whole industry before it gets a chance to get off the ground."

News

Crypto Company Coinbase Hires Legal Leader From Fannie Mae as New CLO

Caroline Spiezio | September 19, 2018

Brian Brooks is leaving decades-old Fannie Mae for a much less old school type of financial institution.

News

Walmart's In-House Counsel Tells How the Retail Giant Is Changing Its Legal Ops

Dan Clark | September 18, 2018

Alan Bryan, senior associate general counsel of Walmart Inc., told lawyers at the 15th Annual Federation of Defense and Corporate Counsel Symposium in Philadelphia why and how the legal department developed its legal operations function to control spending.

News

Goodwin Procter Partner Now CLO at Crypto Company ShapeShift

Caroline Spiezio | September 14, 2018

Veronica McGregor is the latest Big Law attorney to go to see the opportunity for a career change in crypto.

News

Crypto on K Street: New Blockchain Lobbying Group Pushes for Increased Regulatory Clarity

Caroline Spiezio | September 13, 2018

Look out Washington, D.C., crypto companies are coming. They want to help shape the conversation about regulating this burgeoning industry.

News

Aparna Bawa Answers the (Video) Call as Zoom's First GC

Caroline Spiezio | September 12, 2018

Zoom Video Communications has hired Bawa, an attorney with plenty of legal department experience in Silicon Valley, to help unite its in-house lawyers into a more cohesive team.

News

Even Lawyers Need a GC: Axiom Hires Lisa Young as New Top Attorney

Caroline Spiezio | September 06, 2018

Cathy Johnson has also recently joined Axiom as chief information officer.

News

3 Ways the Senate Intelligence Committee Wants Tech Companies to Shape Up

Caroline Spiezio | September 05, 2018

Senators at Wednesday morning's hearings had some demands for the tech executives present (and not present).

News

Panasonic North America Bumps Jessica Hodkinson Up to GC

Caroline Spiezio | September 05, 2018

Hodkinson has been at the subsidiary of Panasonic for five years. She replaces Damien Atkins in the GC role.

News

To Delete, or Not to Delete? When It Comes to Government Accounts, There's No Easy Answer

Caroline Spiezio | August 31, 2018

Facebook announced this week it would kick a major government official off its platform for the first time ever. The decision underscores a continuing debate over content moderation and global politics.

News

Hey GCs, Want That Compensation in Cash or Cryptocurrency?

Caroline Spiezio | August 29, 2018

At least one company is seeking a general counsel who will get compensated in Ethereum. As crypto booms, there could be more to come.

Q&A

Counsel and Advocate: How Kickstarter's New GC Balances Legal Work With His Company's Mission

Caroline Spiezio | August 24, 2018

Leading the law department at Kickstarter has required Christopher Mitchell to help his company raise its voice on important issues, including net neutrality and copyright law.

News

Not a 'Gotcha Law': How Corporate Legal Can Prep for Colorado's Cyber Law

Caroline Spiezio | August 24, 2018

Legal experts weigh in on how corporations can get compliance efforts underway for the new cybersecurity law, set to go into effect Sept. 1.

News

Senate Intelligence Committee Rejects Kent Walker As Google's Pick To Testify

Caroline Spiezio | August 23, 2018

Republican Sen. Richard Burr on Thursday rejected Google's offer to send Kent Walker, the tech company's former longtime general counsel, to testify at a September hearing on election security.

News

How Tech Companies Can Prep for Possible Loss of H-1B Spouse Work Permits

Caroline Spiezio | August 23, 2018

A Trump policy discontinuing at least some H-4 visa work permits for the spouses of foreign-born workers has advanced another step through the rulemaking process.

Q&A

Finding Transformative Legal Technology: A Q&A With Rashmi Chandra of Aetna

Dan Clark | August 20, 2018

Chandra recently spoke with Corporate Counsel about what technologies she and her broader legal department have chosen to use and why.

Profile

Meet Mike Lempres: Former Mayor, Current GC and Crypto Industry Veteran

Caroline Spiezio | August 17, 2018

Mike Lempres, chief legal officer at San Francisco-based Coinbase, has walked a unique career path. His experiences, both in-house and in the public sector, have given him a deeper understanding of why and how regulators do what they do.

Expert Opinion

Creating a Digital-Ready Legal Department

Abbott Martin | August 14, 2018

Legal departments must support traditional industry concerns and understand the changes that technology brings to markets, value, risk and processes.

News

Turning Again to Washington, Uber Hires Former NSA General Counsel as New Security Chief

Caroline Spiezio | August 14, 2018

Matthew Olsen will now serve as Uber's top security boss, replacing Joe Sullivan, who was fired late last year after a previously undisclosed data breach at Uber became public.

News

Mozilla Nabs Twitter Deputy GC as Next Top Lawyer

Caroline Spiezio | August 14, 2018

The efforts to browse for a new in-house boss are over for Mountain View, California-based Mozilla.

News

As the Business Evolves, so Does Legal: a Q&A With Vonage's Randy Rutherford

Dan Clark | August 09, 2018

Rutherford shared his views with Corporate Counsel about the rise of AI and the big shift that's taken place in his own law department, among other topics.

Analysis

Summer Internships in Silicon Valley Offer New Route In-House for Law Students

Caroline Spiezio | August 07, 2018

NetApp, Adobe and Google are among the companies tempting law students with summer programs that just might convince them to opt for the in-house path in their legal careers.

Q&A

How Hewlett Packard Enterprise Anti-Corruption Leader Becky Rohr Keeps Global Company Compliant

Caroline Spiezio | July 25, 2018

Rohr, formerly a high-level attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice, is tasked with ensuring that the tech company respects the letter of the law in the 70 countries where it operates.

News

5 Tips for Legal Departments After Russian Hacker Indictment Around US Elections

Dan Clark | July 17, 2018

This week's indictment is a reminder that cyber dangers are still very real and provide some teachable moments for in-house counsel.

News

Uber's Legal Team Joins Gibson Dunn to Discuss Empowerment at Girls Who Code

Caroline Spiezio | July 17, 2018

Uber and Gibson Dunn staff spoke to a group of girls July 13 about what it's like to work in law as part of an event held in San Francisco by Girls Who Code.

Analysis

The Long Road to Going Public: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at Dropbox's Successful IPO

Caroline Spiezio | July 13, 2018

It took teamwork, preparation and smart technology use to get Dropbox's IPO over the finish line earlier this year.

News

Brett Kavanaugh and Tech Companies: Friends or Frenemies?

Caroline Spiezio | July 12, 2018

Kavanaugh's track record on issues like immigration, net neutrality and business regulations shows that if confirmed to the U.S. Supreme Court, his relationship with tech might be more of a mixed bag than initially expected.

News

Fast-Growing Rubrik Hires First CLO, a Hint it May Be IPO Bound

Caroline Spiezio | July 10, 2018

Peter McGoff, formerly of Box, will lead the company’s global legal and compliance functions, with a focus on expanding into international markets and developing a compliance and governance framework.

News

DOJ's Scott Schools Heads to Uber as Chief Compliance Officer

Caroline Spiezio | July 09, 2018

The former DOJ lawyer looks to be part of Uber's grand plan to clean up its act and its tarnished public image.

Q&A

‘The Job in Crypto Found Me’: A Q&A With Robinhood AGC Adele Faure

Caroline Spiezio | July 06, 2018

Faure's in-house role has expanded to include cryptocurrency. Luckily she's got plenty of regulatory experience and "crypto nerd friends" to help her succeed.

Q&A

Meet Dana Rao, IP Master and Adobe's New GC

Caroline Spiezio | July 05, 2018

Rao said he was "surprised and thrilled and excited" to learn that he'd be taking over the post from Mike Dillon, who is retiring.

News

Legal Departments Need Hashtags Too: Meet #InHouseTwitter

Caroline Spiezio | July 03, 2018

#AppellateTwitter doesn't get to have all the fun. There's also #InHouseTwitter, which is celebrating its one-year anniversary Tuesday.

News

Operationally Speaking: A Conversation With AbbVie and ACC's Sam Ranganathan

Dan Clark | July 02, 2018

Ranganathan works as the senior director of information governance and legal ops at AbbVie. He also was recently made chair of the ACC's Legal Operations Group.

News

Uber's Tony West Talks Company's Past, Present and Future at In-House Forum

Caroline Spiezio | June 27, 2018

At a Bloomberg Law event in San Francisco, the Uber CLO said the company can only survive by regaining and keeping trust.

News

Intel CEO's Departure Shows Importance of Office Dating Policies, Especially if You're the Boss

Caroline Spiezio | June 22, 2018

Brian Krzanich of Intel resigned from the company over revelations he had dated an Intel employee. His departure says a lot about the considerations companies face these days in dealing with workplace relationships.

News

The Direct Listing Route to Going Public: Spotify's Counsel Offer a Guide

Caroline Spiezio | June 22, 2018

On April 3, Spotify went public. Here's a look behind the scenes at that process, which was carried out via a rare direct listing instead of through an initial public offering.

News

Open Source Software: Great for Engineers, Tougher for In-House Attorneys

Dan Clark | June 22, 2018

At a panel discussion at the Association of Corporate Counsel's Corporate Counsel University in Philadelphia, lawyers discussed the ups and downs of open source usage.

News

EU Copyright Directive Advances: What Does That Mean for Tech’s Legal Departments?

Caroline Spiezio | June 21, 2018

The directive, which passed the EU's Legal Affairs Committee this week and is slated to move to an EU Parliament vote in the future, could create some serious roadblocks for tech companies.

News

Ocwen Financial Used Collaboration to Automate Mortgage Document Review, Win ACC Ops Award

Dan Clark | June 21, 2018

Ocwen Financial's lawyers had to review 15,000 agreements with hundreds of data points in only two months. To meet their deadline, they had to get creative.

News

Who Is David Taylor? Meet the Theranos GC Who Just Became the Troubled Company's CEO

Caroline Spiezio | June 18, 2018

Taylor will have his work cut out for him, replacing former CEO Elizabeth Holmes at a company that has been stuck in a downward spiral of legal troubles and bad headlines.

News

Federal Judges in the Hot Seat Discuss Their Own Data Protection Practices

Dan Clark | June 13, 2018

Three judges spoke at a Philadelphia cybersecurity conference Wednesday about their own experiences with data security in the courts.

News

Operationally Speaking: A Conversation With Daniel Hegwood of AppNexus

Dan Clark | June 12, 2018

In the latest edition of Operationally Speaking, Hegwood spoke with Corporate Counsel about what it's like to create a legal operations function at a startup and about how to hire the right person to lead the charge.

News

Female Legal Leaders From eBay, Udacity and More Discuss Best Practices for the Era of #MeToo

Caroline Spiezio | June 11, 2018

At the 15th annual Stanford E-Commerce Best Practices Conference, a group of powerful female attorneys, including in-house lawyers from the tech world, weighed in on diversity and #MeToo.

Q&A

From CLO to the President's Seat: Nokia's Maria Varsellona Is Living the In-House Dream

Caroline Spiezio | June 11, 2018

"I think that there are still some lawyers who believe that it's not your role to make decisions, or rather they believe you let the business decide. You give alternatives and explain risks, but you do not take responsibility for decisions. I have a totally different view," said Varsellona, who recently took on the role of president at Nokia Technologies.

News

Legal Operations in the US vs. Europe: Is it So Different Across the Pond?

Dan Clark | June 07, 2018

There are some distinctions, experts say, but ops is not as different in Europe as one might expect.

Slideshow: Corporate Counsel’s 2018 Best Legal Departments

Heather Nevitt | June 06, 2018

Corporate Counsel’s editorial department is pleased to announce the honorees of our 2018 Best Legal Departments awards.

News

In-House Counsel Rethinking Their E-Discovery Approaches, Survey Says

Dan Clark | June 05, 2018

Legal departments are making adjustments for expansion and change in the e-discovery industry.

News

LinkedIn's Caroline Goulding Will Be Company's Data Protection Officer Under GDPR

Caroline Spiezio | June 05, 2018

Goulding will return to her home country of Ireland, where she will help ensure that LinkedIn stays complaint with the General Data Protection Regulation.

News

Beyond CLO: Nokia's Maria Varsellona Adds Role as President of Company's Tech, Licensing Business

Caroline Spiezio | June 05, 2018

The Finnish company has bumped its CLO up, giving Varsellona new executive responsibilities.

News

Spotify Backtracks on Policy Concerning Artist's Off-Platform Conduct, Saying It Won't 'Play Judge and Jury'

Caroline Spiezio | June 01, 2018

It's a move many content moderation professionals said made sense, as it could have caused financial and legal issues for the company.