Alumni Speak About Careers As In-House Counsel
The Washburn Business Law Society hosted Angela McGuire and Bryan Stanley, both Class of 1999, on November 8, 2005 to speak about obtaining a position as in-house counsel. McGuire is Senior Corporate Counsel of Marketing and Contracts for H&R Block. Stanley is an intellectual property associate with Sonnenschein, Nath & Rosenthal in Kansas City.
Many in-house counsel start in business roles and continue to advance in the legal department. Others begin their careers in the legal department and move into upper-management.
To prove value as in-house counsel you really have to be a business partner. Lawyers need a critical eye to detail. For law students, it is important to get exposed to business issues.
Because lateral hiring is very common, the best path to in-house counsel is to get a few years of big firm experience. To get in a big firm, you can start in a small firm. Networking is important to go from a small firm to a big firm. A key to remember is that 90 percent of five-year law graduates are not in their first job.
Stanley, a former patent examiner for the United States Patent and Trademark Office, said that intellectual property is not as hot as it used to be, but that it is a steady area of the law because intellectual property needs to be valued during mergers and acquisitions.
Additionally, McGuire spoke about being the president of the Midwest Association of Corporate Counsel, a bar association created specifically to support in-house attorneys.
Jenny Callahan contributed this article.
