Inside Corporate Counsel
Shifting from an original plan to counsel individuals while a member of the clergy, to counseling an international corporation while traveling all over the world, presents an interesting career journey.
FAMILY BACKGROUND
FB was born in Pennsylvania, the middle son of three brothers.
PARENTAL INFLUENCE IMPORTANT – POSITIVE OR NEGATIVE
His father was a salesman for a manufacturer of aluminum products, who first sold pots and pans to households and later to restaurant supply houses. FB watched his father deal with several significant career challenges: losing his job but rebounding to find another and later told by his management to retire at age 67, which mandate was quickly reversed when a different manager randomly observed a demonstration of his value to the company.
FB’s mother was initially a homemaker until all three sons were less dependent so she could seek paid employment outside their home, initially as a secretary who worked her way up to management positions, first with a cosmetics retailer and finally as manager of a law firm in New York City.
From both parents, FB learned that despite the lack of a college degree, a man or woman could work hard at the daily tasks, earn the professional respect of co-workers, and maintain an optimistic attitude while dealing with job setbacks, resulting in job satisfaction and career success.
EARLY CAREER GOALS – AN ACCURATE FORECAST?
FB attended Catholic schools through 8th grade. His teachers included priests and nuns so it was not surprising (to FB) that his first thought of an adult career would be to serve as a priest. However, service within the relatively cloistered priesthood began to fade when FB began to seriously read daily newspapers during his high school years. Often the front-page news stories dealt with interesting events involving our country’s relationships with foreign governments, e.g., the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Space Race with Russia and our soldiers increasingly involved in overseas combat operations. Such news guided FB toward a global perspective which led to his interest in working with international law as a member of the U.S. State Department’s Diplomatic Corps. By the time FB entered high school, this was his plan and fervent desire.
COLLEGE CHOICE FACTORS
To pursue a career as a foreign diplomat, FB assumed that he would have to graduate from both college and law school. His college applications received multiple types of responses: some “wait-lists,” some rejections and some acceptances.
Which to choose from among the acceptances? Cost and location were considerations but for FB, the deciding factor was to accompany a childhood friend to the same university.
Editor’s note: It is not unusual and not a career killer to base a college choice on attending with someone you know. Such a friendship might not last the entire time away at school but it’s an initial comfort that the teenager departing the family nest will have at least one instant friend for this new venture.
COLLEGE COURSE SELECTIONS
FB’s academic interests leaned toward history and political science (his “majors”) plus writing (a minor in English). He envisioned no relevance for math and science proficiency within his goal of a career in the foreign service.
IMPORTANCE OF A COLLEGE PROFESSOR
One of FB’s professors taught a course in Russian / Soviet politics. More important, the professor’s teaching method of questioning students to justify their views (called “The Socratic Method” wherein questions are the focus rather than rote learning) required critical thinking. Some of FB’s classmates could not adequately adjust to this way of learning but FB appreciated it and excelled.
Apparently, the professor appreciated FB’s dedication to critical thinking and therefore invited FB to a small group discussion with Army officers following their full class lecture regarding military events during the on-going war in Viet Nam. That war was a contentious subject throughout the country and especially on college campuses, provoking some spirited general class discussion before the subsequent, private meeting among the Army Colonels, the professor, FB and several other students. During that private meeting, FB focused his questions and comments on military strategy instead of politics. A Colonel recommended to FB that he join the Army officer training program at the college (R.O.T.C.) due to FB’s precocious grasp of military strategy and perspective involving the alliances which should be sought among governments to successfully resolve any military conflict.
INTEREST AND QUALIFICATION MAY NOT MATCH
FB was unpersuaded to join the military despite the Colonel’s compliment, but it did reinforce his interest in getting involved in foreign affairs. However, FB would soon learn that interest and acceptance are two different issues, which would lead to a zig in his career path.
As law school graduation approached, FB took the U. S. State Department’s test required for admission to their diplomatic corps. Unfortunately, FB’s test score was less than required for admission. Was the test fair and relevant to service as a foreign diplomat? FB would never know that but rather than try a re-test or abandon the legal profession entirely, FB decided to take the state (PA) Bar Exam, study hard to pass it and then seek employment with a law firm.
RANDOM MEETING WITH A STRANGER LEADS TO FIRST JOB
Like most state Bar Exams required to provide legal advice and representation, the test occurs over several days. During an exam lunch break, a fellow exam taker (who was a practicing attorney in Washington DC with a national trucking industry organization, now seeking to be a licensed attorney in PA) told FB that he planned to launch a new law firm to serve only the trucking industry (Editor’s note: law firms serving only one type of client are called “boutique” firms) , for which he would need an associate attorney (i.e. not a law firm partner) so if FB found no other legal practice to his liking, he should consider that opportunity.
After passing the Bar Exam, FB submitted a few applications to law firms but decided that the possibility of returning to his college town to work in a new law firm presented the most interesting opportunity since he would have one-on-one mentoring from an experienced lawyer and direct, hands-on involvement in the start-up and management of a new business. The starting salary was competitive with jobs in a nearby large city, and he was hopeful that his compensation would grow as the law firm grew. Fortunately, the associate position was still open, so an employment agreement was quickly reached.
FIRST JOB NEVER LOCKS IN A CAREER
It did not take long before FB’s mentor realized that he had miscalculated the need for a boutique trucking firm in the region where it was located, and the new law firm’s business was slow to establish. As a result, the law firm began focusing more on the types of legal work available in the local community: domestic relations, minor misdemeanors, wills and trusts and minor contract disputes, all of which were accepted to pay the firm’s expenses. FB noticed this new business direction was mentally wearing on his mentor, but they had a good working and personal relationship. FB carefully observed his mentor’s highly professional demeanor, disciplined approach to the practice of law and ability to use his power of polite persuasion rather than threats and bluster to achieve his client’s objectives. FB’s mentor impressed on FB the need for thorough legal research of cases and statues (laws) to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the client’s position and how to use the legal research to strategize and prepare for litigation. This involved extensive discussions between FB and his mentor, involving the very type of critical thinking that FB’s professor of Soviet politics had encouraged his students to develop and use.
Eventually, the stress of a struggling law firm became too much for FB’s mentor, who departed a year later for another employment opportunity. FB stayed for a few more months but then decided to seek different employment with more stability and opportunity.
KEY WORDS IN A RESUME MIGHT ATTRACT A JOB OFFER
FB discussed his job search with several friends, one of whom noted that the state attorney’s office (PA Attorney General) was accepting resumes for several of its departments. FB updated his resume, adding his experience and interest in “transportation law” based on his most recent legal experience working with his mentor. Apparently, the transportation law words grabbed the attention of the resume reviewer, who offered FB either of two department openings: Eminent Domain (government forces purchase of private land for government use) in Pittsburgh or Government Contracts in Harrisburg.
Another “Which to choose?” moment. FB preferred contract law and the Harrisburg location was closer to his boyhood town in eastern Pennsylvania, so he opted to become involved with government contracts. Unfortunately, the litigation unit to which FB was assigned, included only young attorneys like himself, with no litigation experience and no mentors to “show him the ropes” about representing clients in a courtroom and the nuances of construction law involving government contracts. But by now, FB had learned from his prior mentor that there was no substitute for mastering the individual facts of each dispute, doing legal research involving cases with similar facts, pausing at least briefly to consider the strengths and weaknesses not only of his client’s case but also his adversary’s case and then having the courage to proceed. His opponents would be teams of seasoned attorneys while FB would be alone so it was “sink or swim” and FB would have to out-work his adversaries while learning on his own, how to run a case and proceed based only on his own knowledge of the facts and the law, aided by his perseverance.
Within the first week, FB had to become a specialist in construction law and take the lead in representing The Attorney General’s Office for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Transportation in a courtroom! The cases presented sophisticated legal issues based on complex facts, but FB soon realized that despite being confronted by sophisticated legal talent from prestigious law firms, he could master the facts as well as – and in many cases better than – the partners at those “blue pin-striped suit” law firms.
LESSON LEARNED: DON’T BE CONTROLLED BY FEAR OF FAILURE
Often (though not always) succeeding in court, FB thus learned an important lesson: it’s not your academic record which determines your career success, but how you deal with the facts of the situation before you. Use your head! In other words, use your critical thinking skills (what are the problems? How does the other side view them? what can we do to counter?) to analyze the issues, apply the most important facts to be persuasive and hope for the best but don’t be afraid to fail. We all can succeed if we don’t let our fear of failure control us. This requires hard work but don’t assume you will lose before you even start.
ZIG-ZAGGING WITHIN A CAREER PATH
After four years with the government contracts legal unit, FB began thinking about pursuing a different opportunity involving broader issues beyond only contracts and likely better compensation in the private, non-government world. One of his career resumes landed on the desk of the General Counsel (GC) of an international corporation who – coincidentally – also had previous government lawyer and construction law experience. (Editor’s note: It is often said that “luck” is the random meeting of hard work and opportunity.) FB was invited for an interview which lasted an entire day as they discussed their mutual experiences working within a government legal department and how that might be relevant for FB within the in-house corporate world. This time FB would have a mentor!
Echoing his Socratic experience with the college professor, FB was soon being asked deeply probing questions by the GC while learning about the company’s corporate issues and defending FB’s initial thoughts for how to resolve those problems. Discussions involving legal issues were essentially respectful legal arguments designed to uncover the weakness in any position and turn it into a persuasive strength. In short, FB became a better lawyer.
Within three months of his hiring, FB was headed to Ecuador on behalf of his international corporate employer, to resolve some legal issues. Soon, he was traveling across the world on behalf of his employer: to New Zealand, Australia, Pakistan and Mexico, all done with practically no experience in the specific issues but with terrific support from the professional staff at the home office. (Editor’s note: Wasn’t it ironic that the person who couldn’t qualify to join the government’s foreign service would now be traveling to most of the same places on behalf of a private employer!)
Management relationships can change over time and after a few years jetting across the globe, FB decided that being a lawyer within a law firm, working with multiple clients while traveling less and possibly earning more while away from corporate bureaucracy, seemed an appealing alternative.
INTEREST MEETS OPPORTUNITY; BUT WILL THE GRASS ALWAYS BE GREENER?
When an offer to join a private law firm’s construction law department was presented, FB accepted. Typically, he immediately devoted himself to learning the applicable law and rooting out the most helpful facts involved in each client’s problem, utilizing critical thinking by asking himself to identify the key issues, the opponent’s likely strategy and how best to counter it. There were experienced lawyers available to consult within the same law firm but disappointingly, none were critical thinkers to the same level as his former corporate GC. And worse was law firm, internal politics. (Editor’s note: Law firm politics are not a problem if you don’t mind competing, sometimes with your fellow partners, for clients, office location, management influence and compensation. Many attorneys have enjoyed and excelled within the process; others liken it to swimming with sharks!)
After what felt like swimming with sharks for several years, FB now looks back and realizes that his stress level and personality were both negatively affected during his time in private practice. Within his family, FB was the last to appreciate this change in his demeanor and outlook but fortunately he finally did, as he began to contrast his current life with happier professional times within his former corporate world. As soon as his mental vision cleared, he contacted his former employer and fortunately was rehired for their in-house corporate staff.
CAREER SATISFACTION
FB returned to the law department of the international corporation with a renewed appreciation of the challenging and respectful, professional culture there. Like life itself, there will be ups and downs, disappointments, and successes but FB’s overall career perspective has been overwhelmingly positive.
When FB now looks back on his career as he nears retirement, he acknowledges the positive influence of his parents, teachers, professors, mentors, co-workers, and family. He believes he has set high standards for job performance by himself and his co-workers. He vows to remember the successes and appreciate that he persisted in overcoming whatever challenges he had to face.
