‘Some are born great, some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon them’, muses Malvolio, a steward in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night and the victim of a cruel prank whereby he believes he might be elevated to his mistress’s side as consort. Continue reading “Our great leader: unraveling the process of choosing the right candidate for the top job”

Collaboration in Big Pharma might seem like anathema for some who think of the regular patent litigation headlines that the industry produces. However, the sector is seeing an increasing number of peer-to-peer collaborations, and researchers at the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research (NIBR) have championed open research collaborations between entities. Continue reading “Opening up to new partnerships”

We started our discussion, which was held in association with recruiters Mlegal, by considering the big picture – how the roles of the general counsel and the legal team have changed, and what are the most compelling pressures currently. Continue reading “GC Roundtable: Mapping the future GC, Houston”

Tim Murphy has worked for MasterCard for 16 years. Starting out as an in-house lawyer, he then spent over ten years in non-legal business roles, serving as president of the US region and chief product officer. In 2014, he stepped back into legal to assume the mantle of general counsel. In the first of a two-part interview, GC catches up with him to hear how working in the business has shaped his vision as GC. Continue reading “Let’s talk business: part one”

‘Big data’ is becoming a buzzword in all walks of business life, and legal is no exception – whether that involves supporting your business in its forays into big data or using big data to inform processes in the legal department itself. Continue reading “The promised land? Big data and the in-house lawyer”

The explosive economic growth of Turkey’s economy, which started in 2001 and peaked between 2002 and 2007 with the establishment of the incumbent Justice and Development Party (AKP) government, was dubbed by many as the ‘Turkish economic miracle’, as the country emerged from decades of IMF bailouts and political instability. Continue reading “GC Powerlist: Turkey”

Korin Neff, senior vice president and corporate compliance officer, talks about leadership and development at Wyndham Worldwide. Continue reading “Playing to your strengths: building diversity of thought into business”

Victor Topadze became group legal director at Russian classifieds business Avito in 2012. He saw his team grow from a four-person outfit to a 15-strong department in only two years, as the company transformed from the start-up it was in 2009 to the multibillion dollar company it is today. Continue reading “A different dynamic: managing an expanded legal team”

GC: What initiatives has Microsoft and its legal department pioneered to promote race and ethnic diversity within its workforce?

Mary Snapp (MS): Microsoft’s legal department has had a focused diversity team for 12 years. Brad Smith [Microsoft’s president and chief legal officer] and I collaborated to start the diversity team within the department, which grew to include 85 people. Continue reading “Change partners: How can law firms and in-house departments promote race and ethnic diversity?”