Q:
Describe your background and the path you took to becoming in-house counsel.
A: I dreamed of being a lawyer in high school, but that was not a realistic option for me at that time. So, after working my way through college, I took a job as a service technician and soon was promoted to a salesperson. My sales job worked out very well, and four years into it, my wife gave me an ultimatum -- seek your dream job now or forever hold your peace on the matter. Thereafter, married with two children, I quit my job, my wife returned to teaching, and I went to law school.
My legal career began at a large firm in Atlanta, and a few years into it I had the good fortune to work on a construction case. As the firm got more construction cases, we created a Construction Law Section. That section boomed with business, which afforded me the opportunity to handle my own cases as First Chair and serve as “Managing Partner” in large multi-million-dollar international construction arbitrations.
Based on that experience, gained over 14 years at the firm,
The Shaw Group recruited me to serve as its Vice President of Litigation. In that
role, I was responsible for Shaw’s legal disputes and my “portfolio” of
claims often exceeded a billion dollars. My 8½ year tenure at Shaw ended when
Shaw was acquired by Chicago Bridge & Iron.
After leaving Shaw, I was presented with an opportunity to join McKenney’s, Inc. as its first General Counsel and as a business partner in the company. I have been at McKenney’s for over 10 years, which will soon end as I plan to retire from the company next year.
Q: How does working in-house compare or differ from firm life?
A: On the road to becoming an
equity partner at my firm, one of my most critical keys to success began to
shift from producing an excellent legal product to
selling an excellent legal product. I found that ironic since I left my first
career as a salesperson to practice law, and it seemed like continued success in
my legal career would require, in no small part, transitioning back into a
salesperson as Rainmakers rule at law firms. As in-house counsel, I do not have these same demands.
Being in-house also intensified my need to be an efficient, effective problem-solver, which I very much enjoy. One of my most challenging, yet rewarding, legal career experiences occurred soon after my promotion to Deputy General Counsel. Shaw’s senior management gave me the special assignment of serving as Legal Counsel for Shaw’s Vogtle Units 3 & 4 multi-billion-dollar nuclear power project. Decisions and solutions had to be made and carried out in real time, often with no margin for error. An in-house counsel position allows you to be “in the trenches” with the business leaders and meaningfully contribute to the company’s success.
Q: What kind of work does your company do? Do you focus on specific sectors, states, or regions?
A: The Shaw Group was a global Fortune 500 company providing engineering, construction, fabrication, environmental, and industrial services in industries ranging from Power, Energy, Oil & Gas, Chemical, Environmental, Infrastructure, and Government.
McKenney’s, Inc., one of the largest mechanical contractors in the United States, provides construction, engineering, design, HVAC, plumbing, controls, commissioning, and maintenance services in the commercial, healthcare, government, and higher education markets working on projects such as office towers, stadiums, hospitals, and data centers.
Q: What advice would you give to outside counsel about how to meet or even exceed their client's expectations?
A: The single most important piece of advice I would give outside counsel about how to meet or exceed their client’s expectations is: you must obtain and maintain a crystal-clear understanding of what the client’s expectations are. Seems simple, but that often is more elusive than you think. Sometimes, the client and/or the in-house representative of the client have not fully formed their expectations, or the expectations have changed over the course of the matter. So, outside counsel must build a reliable communication channel into the business, and ensure your on-going interactions have the proper objectives and are with the right people. Do not just provide updates on the status of the matter. Engage in an ongoing dialogue to keep track of the goals and expectations of the client and, critically, continually confirm what the client defines as success. It is not always winning the case. If you truly understand, and in many instances help define, what qualifies as success at any given point in the matter, you give yourself the best chance of meeting or exceeding the client’s expectations.
Q:
What are the work/business-related issues that tend to keep you up at night?
A: AI offers great promise that comes with real peril, which can fall upon the in-house counsel to protect against. Senior management recognizes the need to have stringent safeguards in place to guard against employees loading the company’s confidential or proprietary information into any AI systems. That, however, can fall short of adequately protecting the company when you fully comprehend how insidiously AI systems, which thrive on data, super-efficiently gather, analyze, and synthesize mega amounts of data. So, companies can successfully prevent their confidential/proprietary data from entering through the front door of AI systems. However, the proliferation of embedded AI, its ease of use, and its prompt delivery of tangible benefits, has me questioning whether market leading companies seeking to take advantage of AI can implement AI use policies and procedures that successfully prevent AI from siphoning off the market leaders’ data and making it available to their competitors to educate themselves on how they can overtake the market leaders.
Q: What do you plan on doing after retiring?
A: Having reached 45 years of blissful marriage, my wife and I both agree retirement for me will not involve sleeping late and lounging around the/her house. Instead, like most retiring construction attorneys, I hope to spend time doing arbitrations and mediations. I prefer serving as a mediator, which I have been doing on a part-time basis for the past 10½ years while serving as McKenney’s General Counsel. I somehow found the time to do that because of the fulfilment I derive from helping people reach amicable resolutions, particularly when that appears impossible. Interestingly, rather than my 14 years as an outside counsel litigator, I find my in-house experience – eight plus years working to resolve billions in claims for a General Contractor and ten plus years resolving all claims for a subcontractor – most beneficial to me as a mediator.
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