The PERSUIT Podcast

After a middle school field trip to Yosemite National Park, Akshay Verma was inspired to pursue environmental law. After a stint as a paralegal for Latham & Watkins, he went on to practice environmental law at Farella Braun & Martel. He then transitioned to legal consulting and business development at Axiom. Today, he’s Director, Head of Legal Ops at Facebook where he helps their legal department “run lean, mean… while spending less green.” What we talked about: - Learning what it takes to run a legal department while at Axiom - Balancing spend on outside counsel with pressures to keep costs low - Pressuring outside counsel to diversify partnership ranks - Getting wins early on in your legal ops career Hear more stories by subscribing to Innovative Legal Leadership on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any podcast platform. Listening on a desktop & can’t see the links? Just search for Innovative Legal Leadership in your favorite podcast player. Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

As a competitive chess player in his college days, Alan Tse gained an appreciation for having to make timely tactical decisions. Like competitors in the game of kings, lawyers must often make important judgment calls without all the facts at their disposal, even if that means tough lessons may follow. Now the Global Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary at Jones Lang Lasalle, Alan leaned on his extensive experience to help his global team navigate a pandemic. And they did so while maintaining an award-winning ethical culture by committing to sustainable values. Join us as we discuss: - Lessons learned from early business startups (6:06) - Recruiting general counsels from outside your industry (13:46) - Operational focuses and gatekeeping reputation (25:41) - Why remaining calm in crisis management is a skill (30:31) Check out these resources we mentioned during the podcast: - Alan Tse - Jones Lang Lasalle Hear more stories by following Innovative Legal Leadership on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any podcast platform. Listening on a desktop & can’t see the links? Just search for Innovative Legal Leadership in your favorite podcast player.  Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

Darren Zeidel began his career at Skadden before the siren call of working in a business environment brought him to Honeywell as the VP and GC of Business and General Aviation. After close to 10 years at Honeywell, he jumped over to Aon where he is now the EVP, GC, and Company Secretary. Topics covered: - Learning how to leverage intangible assets - Compensating for vulnerabilities caused by the pandemic - Finding value in building out your network - Looking for attitude, agility, and curiosity while building a team - Acting as a pathway to the solution rather than thinking you should have all the answers Hear more stories by subscribing to Innovative Legal Leadership on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any podcast platform. Listening on a desktop & can’t see the links? Just search for Innovative Legal Leadership in your favorite podcast player. Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

Mark Chandler learned early on that he didn’t love practicing law in a law firm. Instead, he discovered a love for being inside a company, serving consumers and building products. His first GC role was for the disk drive company Maxtor in 1988, followed by a position as the top lawyer at StrataCom. From there, he spent the next 25 years working at Cisco, 20 of those as GC. Topics covered: - Bringing a business-minded approach to the legal team - 2 principles critical to an effective culture - The impact of technology on legal departments over the years - How being a part of the growth story of a company is key to the GC role today Hear more stories by subscribing to Innovative Legal Leadership on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any podcast platform. Listening on a desktop & can’t see the links? Just search for Innovative Legal Leadership in your favorite podcast player. Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

Unlike at a traditional law firm where there’s a structure to your career progression, Harvey Anderson discovered a democratization of opportunities within web companies. He has worked as an Associate GC at Netscape, a COO at Medscape and Flywheel Communications, an SVP of Corporate Affairs and GC at Seven Networks, an SVP of Business and Legal Affairs at Mozilla, and a CLO at AVG Technologies. Currently he is GC at HP. What we talked about: - How persistence breaks down career barriers - The democratization of opportunity in the web space - Building a culture predicated on diversity without neglecting inclusion - The need for digital platforms - Having views on organizational aspects that go beyond legal Hear more stories by subscribing to Innovative Legal Leadership on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any podcast platform. Listening on a desktop & can’t see the links? Just search for Innovative Legal Leadership in your favorite podcast player. Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

Bruce Byrd started his career in private practice working his way up to partner at Dickinson Wright before making the transition to corporate law. He worked at AT&T for 20 years spending the last few as Chief Legal Officer. Currently, he is Executive Vice President and General Counsel at Palo Alto Networks. What we talked about: - Seeking out honest feedback in pursuit of growth - Highlights and challenges from 20 years at AT&T - Ensuring the legal department at Palo Alto Networks has the scale and resources to meet the ambitions of the company - Being uniquely qualified to invest time in local communities Hear more stories by subscribing to Innovative Legal Leadership on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any podcast platform. Listening on a desktop & can’t see the links? Just search for Innovative Legal Leadership in your favorite podcast player. Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

Thomas Barothy has journeyed from a finance background into legal, spending some time as a CFO and Head of Risk Control before jumping into his present role as Group Legal COO at UBS. He shared with me some of his greatest surprises and insights from his first couple of years optimising the legal department and creating a legal business plan. What we talked about: - Transitioning from finance to legal -War stories about dealings with in-house lawyers - Why lawyers need to learn about and acquire managerial business skills -Setting the vision, the mission, the strategic priorities, and more -Where to start to be an effective legal COO Hear more stories by subscribing to Innovative Legal Leadership on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any podcast platform. Listening on a desktop & can’t see the links? Just search for Innovative Legal Leadership in your favorite podcast player. Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

Chris Fowler started his career as an in-house counsel for Volkswagen and Experian. He then made his way to BT, where he has been the Head of Major products, COO of the legal function, and, currently, General Counsel BT Technology and Transformation. What we talked about: - Getting up to speed on the operational side of running a legal department - Automating basic tasks to free people up for big strategic initiatives - Getting the most out of people and making sure they feel part of something that matters - Advice for taking on the first 90 days as a new COO Hear more stories by subscribing to Innovative Legal Leadership on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any podcast platform. Listening on a desktop & can’t see the links? Just search for Innovative Legal Leadership in your favorite podcast player. Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

After starting his career at a law firm doing work he didn’t like, Rob Fletcher found the perfect fit as a business lawyer at GE. He spent 15 years at Johnson & Johnson working his way up to Worldwide VP of Litigation, and now, he is Chief Legal Officer at Stryker. His advice: develop your business IQ. We discussed: - Expanding business IQ to build knowledge and grow your personal brand - Proving the legal department’s value to the business and using data and analytics to forecast future concerns - Why transparency, approachability, and authenticity have become part of the general counsel role - What qualities he looks for when building a high-powered team - Having the confidence to offer advice outside of legal and compliance issues Hear more stories by subscribing to Innovative Legal Leadership on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any podcast platform. Listening on a desktop & can’t see the links? Just search for Innovative Legal Leadership in your favorite podcast player. Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

Phyllis Harris’s career has had many phases. She worked for the EPA for 20 years before moving out of the public sector — first at Walmart as SVP of Corporate Functions and Legal Operations and now as General Counsel, Chief Compliance, Ethics and Government Relations Officer at the American Red Cross. Throughout, she has advocated for environmental sustainability, diversity, inclusion, and equity. We discussed: - How the role of general counsel has become more proactive with a focus on showing your value as a strategic partner - Tackling issues of environmental sustainability, diversity, inclusion, and equity - How running the legal department like a business engenders more credibility - Empowering teams to do extraordinary things Hear more stories by subscribing to Innovative Legal Leadership on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any podcast platform. Listening on a desktop & can’t see the links? Just search for Innovative Legal Leadership in your favorite podcast player. Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.