Salle Yoo is General Counsel of Uber, the world renowned app-based ride hailing service. Prior to that, she was litigation partner at Davis Wright Tremaine LLP where she represented energy, telecommunications, and technology firms, as General Counsel, ensures that Uber can rapidly expand its global presence and sustain long-term growth in existing markets.

Jeffrey Jackson is the chief legal officer at State Farm and has been with the company for more than 28 years. His specialty is in trial law and corporate governance, but in his former role as general counsel, Jackson oversaw all facets of State Farm’s legal department.

Thomas Moriarty is Executive Vice President, Chief Strategy Officer and General Counsel for CVS Health.

In this episode of In-House Legal, Randy Milch interviews Laureen Seeger about her path to AMEX, industry regulation and cybersecurity, and the importance of brand trust. It is important, she says, for small- and medium-sized firms to invest in security measures, which often involves educating staff on encryption and best practices. Seeger discusses the regular audits American Express administers to their third party affiliates, the benefits and downfalls of cyber insurance, and how her department prepares the AMEX board of governors with the cyber security  information they need to govern properly. She explains how cyber breaches can be much more expensive than periodically assessing business environment, putting protections in place, fishing internally for employees that need training, and encrypting information.

Laureen Seeger is executive vice president and general counsel of American Express Company, a position she assumed in July 2014.  As the corporation’s chief legal officer, Seeger oversees the law, government affairs and corporate secretarial functions for American Express and its subsidiaries. Prior to American Express, Ms. Seeger served as executive vice president, general counsel and chief compliance officer of McKesson Corporation and was with the Atlanta law firm of Morris, Manning & Martin, LLP from 1992 to 2000.

In this episode of In-House Legal, Randy Milch interviews Google Senior Vice President and General Counsel Kent Walker about his path to general counsel of Google and the current legal challenges the multinational technology company faces. Walker examines internet disruption and censorship and talks about how Google approaches the legal balance between personal privacy and the government’s need for access to information.

Walker begins by talking about his path through the U.S. Attorney’s office, AirTouch Communications, Netscape (which became AOL), eBay, and then ending up in his current position at Google and how different sources of training gave him the experience to be a successful general counsel. Through his history in tech companies, he has interacted with the evolution of information law in privacy and defamation, jurisdictional questions, intellectual property definitions, the limits on patents and copyright, and new questions about antitrust in a digital economy.

Milch and Walker then transition into a discussion on threats arising to the internet as it is today. As Google is intimately involved in the balance between necessary encryption and government access to information, Walker discusses how his legal department approaches this fine line. Discussion inevitably turns to censorship and the “right to be forgotten,” a misnomer actually meaning the right to be delisted from the search engines. They talk about self-censorship within tech companies like Facebook and Twitter, collaboration in Silicon Valley after the Snowden Revelations, and the international goal of access to information and freedom of expression.

As general counsel and senior vice president for legal, policy, trust, and safety at Google, Kent Walker is responsible for managing Google’s global legal team and advising the company’s board and management on legal issues and corporate governance matters. Before joining Google, Walker held senior legal positions at a number of leading technology companies. Earlier in his career, Walker was an Assistant U.S. Attorney with the United States Department of Justice, where he specialized in the prosecution of technology crimes and advised the Attorney General on management and technology issues.

As senior vice president and general counsel at Cisco, Mark Chandler has increased the efficiency and overall success of the legal department while dealing with non-practicing entities (patent trolls) and questions of security, privacy, and surveillance between the U.S. and Europe. His experiences in international business relationship building and working directly with sales departments has given him the skills to develop an in-house legal department that truly focuses on efficiency.

In this episode of In-House Legal, Randy Milch interviews Mark Chandler about his path to general counsel at Cisco, how living and working in Europe helped him achieve success in a multinational company, and how he approaches the challenges he’s faced. The first half of the podcast follows Mark’s journey after law school, working in-house at the hard disk manufacturing company Maxtor and then transitioning to StrataCom, an IT service management firm later acquired by Cisco. He talks about living in Germany and France, Cisco’s production of internet infrastructure and cloud-based services and products, and what his position as general counsel involves. He also discusses why collaborative relationships between sales and legal departments are very important to the general success of a company.

In the second half of the podcast, Mark and Randy discuss the challenges a multinational technology company like Cisco faces today. Mark explains how he has used automation of repeated legal tasks to greatly reduce the legal department’s burden on the company as a whole. He then talks about potential solutions to the patent litigation issues that have increased exponentially in the past 15 years and U.S. government surveillance in Europe. Stay tuned to the end for Mark’s advice on running an in-house legal department that is truly efficient and works with the rest of the company.

Mark Chandler is senior vice president and general counsel at Cisco, a multinational technology firm based in the United States. In these roles, he oversees Cisco’s global legal activities and policies, as well as ethics, compliance and regulatory affairs, employee relations, investigations, and brand protection. Mark is a leader in the patent, security, and legal innovation spaces.

In addition to providing access to content, Randy asks Ron about his path to Yahoo, which had some interesting stops along the way. Originally starting as an associate at Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal in Illinois, Ron set his sites on Silicon Valley fairly early in his career. Without being licensed in California or even an available position to apply for, Ron asked for a meeting at Apple Computer, Inc. As it turned out, a position opened during his visit and he was hired shortly after. Tune in to hear more about his story and what it takes to ascend to the top.

Ron Bell is the general counsel, secretary, and vice president at Yahoo. Prior to that, he served as deputy general counsel for several regions of the company as well as other legal positions as he advanced through the ranks. Before beginning his career at Yahoo, Ron served as senior corporate counsel at Apple Computer, Inc. and as an associate at the law firm of Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal.

In this episode of In-House Legal, Randy Milch interviews Fong about the course of his legal career, how his time in public service set him up to go in-house at General Electric, and how he charted his course internally at such a big company.

Topics include:

• Fong’s decision to switch from engineering to legal
• Clerkships for Judge Abner J. Mikva and Justice Sandra Day O’Connor
• Why he started in big law after law school
• Choosing the right company over a specific subject matter
• Appellate work, ecommerce, and patent litigation
• Fong’s position as Deputy Associate Attorney General at the U.S. Department of Justice
• Legal doctrines concerning unlawful conduct and the internet
• Moving in-house at GE and then becoming GC at Cardinal Health
• Doing pro bono work as a general counsel

Ivan Fong is senior vice president of legal affairs and general counsel of the 3M Company. In that role, he oversees all legal, compliance, legal policy, and government affairs matters for the company. He was recently named one of America’s 50 Outstanding General Counsel by the National Law Journal. Prior to joining 3M in October 2012, Ivan served for over three years as general counsel of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

During her tenure in Biglaw doing mergers and acquisitions, Deirdre found her calling working alongside in-house counsels. She realized that in order to advance, she would need to diversify her experience, so when the opportunity to head business development at USA Network came up, she took it. That off-path experience eventually paved the way for an offer from Thomson Reuters to head their legal department.

In this episode of In-House Legal, host Randy Milch interviews Deirdre Stanley about her path to the top. Together, they discuss her background, pivotal decisions along the way, and how being interested in multiple disciplines is the key to high level positions. Tune in to hear her advice for lawyers in today’s market and about her daily duties to maintain a free press worldwide.

Deirdre Stanley is the executive vice president, general counsel, and board secretary at Thomson Reuters. Prior to her current role, she held various legal and senior executive positions, including deputy general counsel at IAC (previously USA Networks, Inc.). From 1997 to 1999, Deirdre served as associate general counsel for GTE Corporation (a predecessor company to Verizon), where she headed the mergers and acquisitions practice group. She currently serves as a vice chair on the Board of Trustees of the Hospital for Special Surgery and is a member of both the Council on Foreign Relations and the Executive Leadership Council.

In this episode of In-House Legal, Randy Milch interviews David Leitch about his career path, crisis management, and leadership. Tune in to hear his opinions about GM’s bailout and bankruptcy as well as facilitating an ethical company culture.

David Leitch is general counsel and a group vice president to Ford Motor Company where he’s worked since 2005. Prior to that, Leitch served in the White House as deputy counsel to President George W. Bush, chief counsel for the Federal Aviation Administration, and deputy assistant attorney general in the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Legal Counsel. In his early career, he served as law clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist  and worked as a partner in the Washington, D.C. law firm of Hogan & Hartson, L.L.P. (now Hogan Lovells).

In this episode of In-House Legal, Randy Milch interviews Bill Ide about his career path, the decisions he made along the way, and what it truly takes to be a leader in the legal industry. In-house lawyers can gain insight from his experience with corporate governance and the future of the profession as a whole.

Topics Include:

• How clerkship transformed Ide’s career
• Representing the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority
• Involvement in the American Bar Association
• The obligation of being self-regulating lawyers
• Solutions to the issue of access to justice
• How general counsels are driving the profession
• Respecting stakeholders in critical decisions
• Approaching in-house counsel as a public company director
• The future of board governance and corporate governance

Bill Ide, currently a partner at the global law firm Dentons, previously served as general counsel of Monsanto. He has clerked for a future United States Attorney General, served as the president of the American Bar Association, was counsel to the U.S. Olympic committee, and has been and remains a director on many public company boards. He is additionally a leading voice on the important topic of corporate governance.

In this episode of In-House Legal, Randy Milch interviews Shahdadi about his path to general counsel at Tumblr and the legal and nonlegal issues he regularly encounters at the digital publishing giant. Shahdadi discusses how social media controls the public arena, copyright and trademark regulations for user-generated content sites, and the ways in which Tumblr works to balance freedom of speech, government restrictions, and user safety. Shahdadi also talks about how he navigated the internal aspects of selling Tumblr to Yahoo and changes in his position due to the acquisition. Tune in to hear from a general counsel who wears many hats within his company.

Ari Shahdadi has been the General Counsel of Tumblr, Inc. since May 2011, where he leads Tumblr’s Legal, Policy, and Trust & Safety teams. He graduated from Harvard Law School, cum laude, while working for Fish & Richardson, and from MIT with Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Computer Science and Engineering.

In this episode of In-House Legal, Randy Milch interviews Michael Fricklas about his path to becoming general counsel of Viacom, his specific interest in technology law, and what it’s like to be general counsel in a company owned by lawyers. Fricklas also discusses the copyright infringement lawsuit between Viacom and YouTube, how he managed the corporation’s public reputation during that time, and what he predicts for the future of cybersecurity in law firms and corporate legal departments. Tune in for an inside look at how the digital age has influenced the job of general counsel.

Michael Fricklas has served in senior management of Viacom’s legal department since 1993 and has been general counsel and secretary, Viacom’s most senior legal position, since 1998. He has been deeply involved in the legal issues surrounding the digitization of content and, most recently, has become involved in cyber-security issues.

In this episode of In-House Legal, Randy Milch interviews Louise Parent about her ambitious path to general counsel of AMEX, how she successfully dealt with AMEX’s battle with Visa and Mastercard in the U.S., Europe, and Latin America, and how the role of general counsel has changed since 1993. She discusses how she started in state legislative affairs but migrated to typical corporate practice by taking on more complicated tasks as available. Parent then decided to become general counsel of a subsidiary, at best a lateral move. In that position, however, she learned to show value to the sales process as a lawyer, she learned how to work with an executive team, and was confronted with a wide variety of legal issues. After discussing the litigation with Visa and Mastercard, Parent then reveals how technology and regulation has changed the role of a general counsel. It is now imperative to become involved in the business as a whole, be familiar with the global legal climate, and understand the expectations of regulators.

Louise Parent is Of Counsel at the firm of Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP. She joined American Express in 1977 and was General Counsel and Executive Vice President from 1993 to 2013. Louise is also a member of the Supervisory Board of Deutsche Bank AG, and the director of Zoetis Inc., a multi-billion dollar animal health company. Louise has bought, sold, litigated, and counseled at the highest levels and has an interesting perspective from both sides of the big law divide.

In this episode of In-House Legal, Randy Milch interviews Peter Beshar, executive vice president and general counsel of Marsh & McLennan, about his path to becoming general counsel and how businesses should approach the issue of cyber security. Beshar started at Marsh & McLennan immediately after a civil action was filed against them by Attorney General Eliot Spitzer in 2004. He discusses how he dealt with being a new general counsel at a business in crisis. With stocks down, ratings down, and clients, banks, and employees upset, he learned to be relentlessly positive and to make strong decisions. General counsel and in-house lawyers alike can benefit from his knowledge and experience.

After the break, Beshar discusses cyber security risks and how they affect the private and public sectors. He explains Enterprise Risk Management (ERM): technological innovations coupled with cyber insurance which drives and modifies people’s behavior. Additionally, he says, the government should interact with private businesses to share cyber threat indicators and provide widespread information about preventing cyber attacks. The issue of cyber risks is incredibly prevalent in businesses of any size today, and it is important that we create long-lasting systems for preventative measures.

Peter Beshar is the executive vice president and general counsel of Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. He has a wealth of experience as a public servant, as a prominent big law firm litigator, and as general counsel for a global enterprise. Beshar is widely known for his experience with cyber risk insurance.

In this episode of In-House Legal, Randy Milch interviews Mark Roellig, General Counsel of MassMutual, about the skills lawyers need to go in-house or become a general counsel, how to properly manage an in-house team of attorneys, and why diversity is important in business. Roellig explains that lawyers seeking a general counsel job need to gain legal experience above and beyond their current position in addition to the knowledge of business, communication, and other non-legal skills. He discusses how to choose the right team of employees, make sure your department adds value to the company, and the proper way to achieve success with diversity. Tune in to learn how to lead a corporate legal department successfully.

Mark Roellig is Executive Vice President and General Counsel of Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company (MassMutual). Roellig is responsible for all the legal affairs of the Company, advises management and the board of directors to ensure that MassMutual complies with corporate-governance requirements and is responsible for the corporate secretary, corporate compliance, internal audit, government relations and the Corporate Business Resources and Real Estate and Facilities Departments of MassMutual.

In this episode of In-House Legal, Legal Talk Network producer Laurence Colletti interviews host Randy Milch as he takes the reins of the show. Together, they discuss Randy’s path to becoming Verizon’s GC, the importance of having talented attorneys on your team, and the challenges faced in regulatory environments. In addition, they talk about the cost of patent trolls, the necessity of support staff, and relentlessly weathering pressure and uncertainty. Tune in to hear what Randy’s plans are for the show’s future as well as his advice for in-house legal departments.

Randy Milch is the executive vice president and strategic policy advisor to the chair and CEO for Verizon Communications. Prior to that, he was the company’s executive vice president and general counsel. Mr. Milch has worked a career in the telecom industry and brings decades of legal experience to the In-House Legal show.

Special thanks to our new sponsor Lex Mundi.

Additional Resources:

Office of the Inspector General: www.OIG.hhs.gov