In-House Counsel

Readers of a blog deserve an explicit statement of the value system of the blogger. For those readers who care and who pay attention, they can figure out what I believe. Even so, for the others and for myself, here are several truths I hold to be fundamental.

Inside lawyers serve worthwhile ends and deliver value. They deserve wise management (See my post March 16, 2008: attacks on the morality of law practiced within a company.).

Our understanding of managerial cause and effect is and always will be limited. The many strands of managerial reality are more complicated than our capacity to fully grasp.

People want to do well at work. Most people in legal departments try hard, want to be respected, try to be productive.

Merit matters most. General counsel should promote and give responsibility to the more capable person over the less qualified.

Metrics should inform decisions, even though much of management is not quantifiable.

We can capture, analyze, and convey knowledge, even though post-modernism rings true for me.

Ideas and words change people. We are not just social beings, economic calculators, instinctual behaviorists, or determined ideologues.