Yes, the title “Best Blogs and Podcasts for In-House Counsel” is a loaded headline. But, that’s how people search for stuff on the internet so we went with it.
Admittedly, unless something is actually quantifiable, the “best” of anything is relative–especially when it comes to writing and podcasting. A more apropos title would be “Our Favorite Blogs and Podcasts for In-House Counsel”.
But, hyperbolic titles notwithstanding, these compilations are often helpful and we hope this one is too.
NOTE: This list focuses only on blogs and podcasts addressing the role, functions, life as, etc. of in-house counsel and not all legal-related blogs/podcasts that might be helpful for in-house lawyers. For that list check out the suggestions from Sterling Miller (who is discussed immediately below).
The “Best” Blogs
Ten Things You Need to Know as In-House Counsel(R) – Sterling Miller.
The granddaddy of blogs geared toward corporate counsel is Sterling Miller’s Ten Things. Sterling has done it all. He’s served as General Counsel, Corporate Secretary, and Chief Compliance Officer with stints at Travelocity, Marketo, and Sabre. He has been blogging since 2014 and always offers real-world, practical advice in his articles. Every post offers ten tips about a certain topic such as setting KPIs for a legal department or marketing the legal department to the business folks. A good starting point? His ten favorite blog posts.
In-House Consigliere- Dennis Garcia
Another great resource is the In-House Consigliere Blog from Microsoft Assistant General Counsel Dennis Garcia. Like Sterling’s Ten Things, Dennis offers practical advice for in-house attorneys. While Dennis writes about “traditional” legal subjects, he also hits on things like emotional intelligence, self-improvement, and generally navigating the corporate waters. (As a bonus, his articles often take lessons learned from his beloved sport of baseball and apply them to situations in which legal teams might find themselves: Lessons Learned from Lou Brock & Tom Seaver).
The blog from legal operations software company SimpleLegal is an excellent resource for in-house legal teams. For obvious reasons the articles generally focus on legal operations, but the blog also features posts that are of general interest to corporate lawyers such as continuing legal education requirements and legal reading.
Executive General Counsel for cosmetic company L’Oréal, Anna Lozynski, has a blog. While not necessarily focused on in-house counsel per se, it definitely comes from an in-house angle. The main focus of Anna’s blog is legal tech and innovation–she even wrote a book about it: Legally Innovative.
Another long-standing player is the Association of Corporate Counsel Docket “for in-house counsel by in-house counsel”. The website is easy to navigate by topic, which includes just about every legal discipline of interest to corporate counsel down to articles on professional development. (Similar sites include the In-House Advisor, In-House Ops Blog, and the In-House Blog).
The “Best” Podcasts
Hosted by another member of the Microsoft in-house team, Jason Barnwell, the Business of Law podcast offers conversations about corporate legal operations and the aspects of corporate counsel partnering with outside counsel. A good introductory episode is: How to Run a Legal Department Like a Business.
Hosted by Mel Scott, Senior Legal Counsel for cloud connectivity app Megaport, the Counsel Podcast discusses in-house lawyer life via interviews with real-life in-house attorneys. Mel has a great, personal interview style and guests discuss their path to in-house positions, how they are working to improve their legal departments, and important non-legal stuff like personal well-being.
With advance apologies for the self-promotion, I also include a podcast I host. While not completely focused on the work of in-house counsel, the goal is always to find guests with tips for implementing technology and innovation into legal work. Many episodes focus on how corporate legal teams are innovating and using tech in their legal department. See e.g., episodes with in-house lawyers from Slack discussing workflow automation, or with Dennis Garcia and Jason Barnwell (noted above) discussing how legal teams can work remotely.
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