Discussion of The General Counsel’s Dilemma

 

    “When all else fails, follow instructions.”—Anne Lamott

As last week passed, we celebrated two media anniversaries, including the first stock ticker in 1867, which replaced mail and messenger service, and half a century later, the first radio news broadcast by the BBC in November of 1922. They used to repeat the news twice so people could more easily take notes and share it with their neighbors, who didn’t have wireless. Imagine a world so slow that we had time to take notes, walk to the neighbors and repeat the message? That might even allow for consideration and conversation rather than absolutism and accusation.They are reminders both that the world is getting much, much faster and that no matter how groundbreaking the technology, it is always replaced by the next technology.Inspired by the speed of change, all of us, even or especially because of Covid-19, are working much faster and longer but we still seem to be falling behind. Inspired by our Olympic-speed water treading, we recorded a number of podcasts this week designed to make us a bit more efficient:The General Counsel’s DilemmaFor In House Warrior with the Corporate Counsel Business Journal, we had a conversation with Ingrid Pierce, Global Managing Partner of Walkers, to discuss how general counsels are increasingly squeezed between the demand for a broader remit and a smaller budget, and what they can do about it.The Next GenerationAlso for In House Warrior we were inspired to do a show after the loss of Steve Susman of Susman Godfrey. We interviewed new Co-Managing Partner Kalpana Srinivasan on the next generation of leadership for the iconic firm.Doing the Right ThingOn The Innovators, the weekly podcast I co-host with Clark Atlanta University President George T. French, Jr. we interview Forward Air Chairman Thomas Schmitt, who shares his remarkable story of coming to America and building a publicly traded company from the ground up, remaking the firm during Covid-19 and his life-long commitment to doing the right thing.Sovereign RepresentationFor those interested in sovereign representation at a time of transitioning administrations, Julian Pecquet, editor of Foreign Lobby Report, and I interviewed Mike Williams, President of The Williams Group on our show, The Influencers, to discusses domestic and sovereign representation in today’s Washington.Emerging CompaniesWe are about to launch a new weekly podcast with Silicon Valley deal lawyer Louis Lehot, called From Garage to Global, a podcast on hypergrowth companies. Ian Lipner, Chair of LEVICK’s Cyber and Emerging Growth Companies practice and I co-hosted a show as a pre-launch.Hopefully, some of these shows will inspire you to take notes and share with your neighbors,  while remaining socially distant, of course.Enjoy the listens. Richard Levick, Esq., Chairman & CEO, LEVICK