The career development theme that ran through the Legal Week Corporate Counsel Forum was a timely reminder of the challenges still facing in-house lawyers. The employed section of the profession has grown in influence over the last five years but many corporate counsel struggle with limited career options and organisations that treat them as an unwieldy cost centre or a drag on creativity.
There are now, at least, more role-models to demonstrate how corporate counsel can win and wield greater internal influence. Among the most effective at the forum in Brussels last week were InBev legal head Sabine Chalmers, who opened the event with a well-received speech on leadership, and Linde legal chief Nick Deeming. Other strong performers included National Australia Bank general counsel David Krasnostein and Credit Suisse strategic counsel Ruth Glazer, who both delivered entertaining and jargon-lite tips on how to show you are helping the (sometimes quite ungrateful) business. Interested readers will get a full report in Thursday’s edition of Legal Week.
