The Abstract

How do you build a personal brand on LinkedIn that strengthens your ties to the legal community, grows your network, and even helps other lawyers? And how do you convert that brand into a successful and rewarding consulting business with an impressive client base?

Brittany Leonard, General Counsel at Civix, started her journey to LinkedIn legal community influencer at the beginning of the pandemic, and went from a single post with minor engagement to an in-house advice powerhouse with more than 26,000 followers. Now she runs a successful consulting business where she trains GCs and businesses to understand the power of a personal brand to get new clients and grow revenue.

Hear Brittany as she shares tips for growing your own presence on LinkedIn, starting a consulting business, breaking out of the networking-event malaise, dealing with abusive workplaces, and more.

Read detailed summary: https://www.spotdraft.com/podcast/episode-35 

Topics:
Introduction: 0:00
Starting your career in local government before entering law school: 2:24
Finding a path to your first general counsel role: 3:54
Approaching the GC role with a business mindset: 10:03
Rebuilding your confidence after working under an abusive boss: 11:43
Building a personal brand on LinkedIn: 16:34
Advice to lawyers who have never posted on LinkedIn before: 19:39
Launching a consulting business on the back of your social presence: 24:54
Tips for creating your own business: 28:22
Book recommendations: 29:36
What you wish you had known as a young lawyer: 32:08

Annual Compensation Report: https://salary-report.spotdraft.com/

Connect with us:
Brittany Leonard - https://www.linkedin.com/in/brittany-leonard-b3a7b2a4/
Tyler Finn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/tylerhfinn
SpotDraft - https://www.linkedin.com/company/spotdraft

SpotDraft is a leading CLM platform that solves your end-to-end contract management issues. Visit https://www.spotdraft.com to learn more.

How do you approach, accept, and move on from career transitions, both planned and unexpected? What does it take to transition from decades in public service to roles leading legal at tech startups and law firms? And how can you leverage your network to bounce back after an unexpected layoff?

S. Michael Lee, General Counsel and COO at Engaging.ai, has conquered many of these tense moments. Starting his career as the first Korean-American prosecutor in the Santa Clara County DA’s Office, he brought lessons learned from his experience as a trial attorney to his second chapter as an in-house counsel and—eventually—legal and business leader.

Hear Michael as he discusses why your network is essential to finding your next role, why you shouldn’t limit yourself or your job prospects, and the importance of honoring your roots in your professional life,

Annual Compensation Report: https://salary-report.spotdraft.com/

Read detailed summary: https://www.spotdraft.com/podcast/episode-34 

Topics:
Introduction: 0:00
Honouring your connection to the Korean American community: 2:40
Finding inspiration in your community to work in public service as a prosecutor: 5:36
Applying lessons learned as a prosecutor to the private sector: 11:36
Finding an in-house role after building your career in public service: 12:57
Advice to lawyers in government service trying to move into the private sector: 14:37
Networking to advance your career: 16:57
Dealing with layoffs at Blind: 20:40
Taking on a new GC and COO role at Engaging.ai: 25:04
Advice to lawyers looking for new positions: 26:52
Book recommendation: 28:19
What you wish you’d known as a young lawyer: 29:02

Connect with us:
S. Michael Lee - https://www.linkedin.com/in/s-michael-lee-27ab86/
Tyler Finn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/tylerhfinn
SpotDraft - https://www.linkedin.com/company/spotdraft

SpotDraft is a leading CLM platform that solves your end-to-end contract management issues. Visit https://www.spotdraft.com to learn more.

How do you leverage your legal career to launch your own consultancy? What are the winning tactics to be an effective in-house lawyer? Is it possible to merge your love of science with your passion for law?

Lisa Taylor Ash, General Counsel at Shape Therapeutics, has the answer to all of your questions. After leading two different legal teams through major acquisitions, starting her own consulting firm, and returning to the GC role, Lisa created effectiveinhouse.com, a website that features legal tactics, samples, and interviews with top in-house counsels across a variety of industries.

Hear Lisa as she explains how she was able to position her career at the forefront of cutting-edge biotech, offers practical advice for lawyers hoping to start a company, shares lessons she wishes were taught in law school, and more.

Check out some of Lisa’s favorite posts from effectiveinhouse.com below:

Minimize Legal Risk
https://effectiveinhouse.com/minimize-legal-risk

Interview with Brett Pletcher, Former GC of Gilead
https://effectiveinhouse.com/interview-brett-pletcher

Interview with Brandon Etheridge, GC of the Baltimore Ravens
https://effectiveinhouse.com/interview-brandon-etheridge

Read detailed summary: https://www.spotdraft.com/podcast/episode-33

Topics:

Introduction: 0:00
Leading legal through two major acquisitions: 2:48
Developing personalized medicines: 8:56
Lessons for lawyers dealing with M&A: 12:11
Leaving large companies after an acquisition: 14 :06
Launching an independent consulting firm: 15:51
Offering practical advice for starting a consulting business: 19:39
Returning to an in-house role at Shape Therapeutics: 24:37
Legal issues related to gene editing: 30:47
Building public trust in gene therapy companies: 32:57
The future of AI and gene editing: 35:41
Creating an essential legal resource at effectiveinhouse.com: 36:51
Book recommendations: 41:35
What you wish you had known as a young lawyer: 44:03

Connect with us:
Lisa Taylor Ash - https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisa-taylor-ash-17b1b611/
Tyler Finn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/tylerhfinn
SpotDraft - https://www.linkedin.com/company/spotdraft

SpotDraft is a leading CLM platform that solves your end-to-end contract management issues. Visit https://www.spotdraft.com to learn more.

How do you realign your legal career in order to break into the tech industry and product counseling? What are the major differences between headline-grabbing big tech companies and ambitious start-ups? And should the goal of every in-house counsel be a GC title?

Nguyen Vu, deputy general counsel at OKX, leveraged his persistence, skills, and showmanship to redefine himself as a tech attorney. Starting off as a lawyer working in telecoms regulation, Nguyen was able to land a major product role at Apple, become the “mini GC” of digital currency at Facebook, and lead international product teams at successful fintech and crypto startups.

Hear Ngyuen as he shares the valuable lessons he’s learned about regulation, consumer protection, motivating your team, steering your career in the direction you want to take it, and more.

Read detailed summary: https://www.spotdraft.com/podcast/episode-32

Topics:
Introduction: 0:00
Beginning your career during the Great Recession: 3:21
Moving beyond telecoms law: 6:10
Landing a dream role at Apple: 9:07
Coming into your own as a product attorney: 11:44
Defining the role of a product counselor: 18:45
Joining Facebook’s digital currency project: 20:10
Getting off of career plateaus and joining Bolt: 25:06
Navigating the difficulties of managing a legal team at a start-up: 28:43
Encountering “Big Company Bias”: 31:34
Becoming deputy general counsel at OKX: 36:33
Book recommendations: 40:10
Advice to your younger self: 41:36

Connect with us:
Nguyen Vu - https://www.linkedin.com/in/nguyentvu/
Tyler Finn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/tylerhfinn
SpotDraft - https://www.linkedin.com/company/spotdraft

SpotDraft is a leading CLM platform that solves your end-to-end contract management issues. Visit https://www.spotdraft.com to learn more.

 What challenges face the legal team at India’s largest learning platform as they expand beyond online classrooms? How do you execute one thousand new contracts a month, and still find time to problem solve and aid core function?

Siddharth Manchanda, Partner at IndusLaw and External GC at Unacademy, has embraced tech and AI in order to free his team from the repetitive manual tasks borne from his company’s fast and massive growth. He’s found that increased efficiency is more than enough to shift the mindsets of traditional lawyers and business teams alike about the power and possibility  of tech solutions.

Hear Siddharth as he discusses the legal perspective on India’s massive economic growth, dividing his time between an in-house and client services role, the future of legal tech, and more.

Read detailed summary: https://www.spotdraft.com/podcast/episode-31

Topics:
Introduction: 0:00
Finding inspiration to practice law: 1:20
Building a career in India’s tech sector during the Great Recession: 6:40
Going in-house with Unacademy: 12:59
Key learnings from a first in-house GC role: 17:13
Considering the perception of legal within your organization: 22:21
Reflecting on the early days at Unacademy: 28:32
Marketing reduced contract drafting time internally: 36:32
Predicting the future of legal tech: 39:14
Using tech experience to change the way you deal with clients: 46:39
Balancing a GC role with a law firm partnership: 49:51
Advice to companies looking to enter the Indian market: 52:27
What you wish you’d know as a young lawyer 59:00

Connect with us:
Siddharth Manchanda - https://www.linkedin.com/in/siddharth-manchanda-0970801b/
Tyler Finn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/tylerhfinn
SpotDraft - https://www.linkedin.com/company/spotdraft

SpotDraft is a leading CLM platform that solves your end-to-end contract management issues. Visit https://www.spotdraft.com to learn more.

How is tech changing India’s financial services industry? How do you deal with complex regulations that change as rapidly as tech products do? And how can a multinational company expand into India’s culturally, geographically, and linguistically diverse market?

Hardeep Singh, General Counsel at CRED, has faced these challenges head-on. Starting his career in litigation, he moved on to in-house counsel for Uber in Delhi and helped pioneer solutions to improve the city’s public transit. Now he leads the legal team at CRED, a reward-based credit card payment app that integrates with India’s massive mobile payment system.

Hear Hardeep as he shares his experiences structuring M&A deals, navigating nuanced regulations, leading legal for a dynamic design-based product, and finding motivation from solving real world problems.

Read detailed summary: https://www.spotdraft.com/podcast/episode-30

Topics:

Introduction: 1:17
Launching your legal career: 1:52
Switching to corporate counsel from an appellate practice in Delhi: 5:27
Applying lessons from Uber to your legal leadership at CRED: 8:50
Explaining CRED: 12:45
Encountering a learning curve as a first-time team leader: 16:31
Considering the role of legal in an organization without titles: 22:18
Lessons learned from M&A at CRED: 27:46
Working in India’s legal landscape: 33:37
Driving communication, marketing and PR in legal: 37:15
Understanding UPI, India’s unified payment interface: 39:40
Advice to companies trying to expand into the Indian economy: 45:54
Book recommendations: 50:23
Advice to your younger self: 53:25

Connect with us:
Hardeep Singh - https://www.linkedin.com/in/hardeep-singh-863b1617/
Tyler Finn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/tylerhfinn
SpotDraft - https://www.linkedin.com/company/spotdraft

SpotDraft is a leading CLM platform that solves your end-to-end contract management issues. Visit https://www.spotdraft.com to learn more.

What can a strong community offer a legal ops professional working alone within their organization? How do you deal with the stress of a chaotic project management role while fostering change? Will legal ops eventually shift away from legal and into the business and tech sphere?

Jenn McCann, Director of Legal Ops at Netflix and President of the Board of Directors at CLOC can offer an expert perspective on all of these questions and more.

During her term as CLOC president, she is strengthening the organizations to community, content, and conversation, and developing a legal ops framework for CLOC’s more than 7,000 members.  
Hear Jenn talk about finding the courage to share your ideas, building and leaning on your community of fellow legal ops professionals, emphasizing the importance of project management, allowing change to take shape, and more.  

Read detailed summary: https://www.spotdraft.com/podcast/episode-29  

Topics:
Introduction: 0:00
Advancing the legal ops industry at CLOC as President of the Board of Directors: 3:35
Getting started with CLOC: 7:22
Unpacking the mindset of service and giving back: 11:21
Lessons learned as CLOC president: 14:23
Advice for professionals getting their start in legal ops: 17:24
Hiring detail-oriented staff with stakeholder management skills: 22:07
Recommending platforms for learning project management skills: 26:04
Dealing with the loneliness of a one-of-one role: 30:25
Legal ops as a business team vs legal ops as a legal team: 37:06
Focusing on the future: 41:02
Maintaining an after-hours music career: 46:47

Connect with us:
Jenn McCarron - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennmccarron/  
Tyler Finn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/tylerhfinn S
potDraft - https://www.linkedin.com/company/spotdraft   

SpotDraft is a leading CLM platform that solves your end-to-end contract management issues.

Visit https://www.spotdraft.com to learn more.  

How do executive recruiters take legal careers to the next level? What do you need to handle the transition from big-name law firm partner to a role helping people build careers of their own? How can you distinguish a good interview from a bad interview? Richard Hsu, Managing Director at Major, Lindsey & Africa and host of the Hsu Untied podcast, has expert advice to share about how to ace the job interview for executive legal roles and the podcast interview with influential thinkers like Mark Cuban and Tony Robbins.  Going deep on legal and podcasting, Richard shares essential tips on how to project confidence and say the right things when you’re face to face with a hiring manager (or celebrity) who can take your career to the next level.

Listen to an episode of Richard’s Hsu Untied podcast: https://hsuuntied.com/mcuban/   

Read detailed summary: https://www.spotdraft.com/podcast/episode-28   

Topics:
Introduction: 0:00
Finding your path to becoming a law firm partner: 4:07
Dealing with the stress of a big law partnership: 6:46
Making the transition from law firm partner to executive recruiter: 8:45
Unpacking the responsibilities of an executive recruiter: 12:25
Tactical tips for legal career searchers: 16:13
Interviewing legal leaders like Mark Cuban on the Hsu Untied podcast: 18:32
Helping your professional development by making a podcast: 24:14
Advice to lawyers who want to start a podcast: 26:56
Book recommendations: 29:57
What you wish you’d known as a starting lawyer: 32:29
Outro:33:54  

Connect with us:
Richard Hsu - https://www.linkedin.com/in/richardhsu/  
Tyler Finn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/tylerhfinn
SpotDraft - https://www.linkedin.com/company/spotdraft   

SpotDraft is a leading CLM platform that solves your end-to-end contract management issues. Visit https://www.spotdraft.com to learn more.

What is a general counsel’s role in international expansion? How do you balance growth with safety and compliance across diverse countries and markets? And how do you scale your legal team to take on challenges that require in-depth knowledge of local cultures, regulations, and business practices?

As general counsel at Lime, Sarah Binder confronts these questions each day, as she and her legal team navigate regulations across 300 municipalities in 35 countries. Sarah, who recently located to San Francisco from the UK, has found that transparency, accessibility, and flexibility are key to working across borders (and time zones).  Listen as Sarah offers tips for effectively scaling out your legal team for international expansion.

Introduction: 0:00
Discussing the scope of Sarah’s GC roles at Lime and Pizza Hut UK and Europe: 4:56
Effectively scaling out your team for international expansion: 07:48
Tips for working across time zones without feeling burnout: 12:47
Defining the role of the GC: 18:57
What American execs get wrong when they expand into European markets: 24:57
Guiding your team through a diverse set of regulatory bodies: 30:01
Looking back on your experience with consumer product liability as a general counsel: 32:38
How GCs strike a balance between growth and regulatory compliance: 37:19
Book Recommendation: 40:45
Outro: 44:36

Read detailed summary: https://www.spotdraft.com/podcast/episode-27  

Annual Compensation Report: https://salary-report.spotdraft.com/  

Connect with us:
Sarah Binder -https://www.linkedin.com/in/rajmahapatra/  
Tyler Finn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/tylerhfinn
SpotDraft - https://www.linkedin.com/company/spotdraft  

SpotDraft is a leading CLM platform that solves your end-to-end contract management issues.

Visit https://www.spotdraft.com to learn more.

How do you turn one of the most difficult moments in your life into the motivation that guides you to make the world a better place?

When Raj Mahapatra received his axial spondyloarthritis diagnosis, he was told he would spend his life in a wheelchair. Decades later, he is an accomplished long-distance runner, seasoned general counsel, tech start-up business operator, mission-driven climate advocate, and chairman of the charity that makes life better for people suffering from his condition worldwide.

Listen as Raj recounts his journey to leadership, explains the importance of advocating for your personal needs, and shares why it is so important for GCs to never stop asking “why?”

Read detailed summary: https://www.spotdraft.com/podcast/episode-26

Topics:

Introduction: 1:20

Receiving a life-changing diagnosis in your twenties: 2:45

Changing your perspective on work by living with a disability: 6:27

Incorporating charity into your running practice: 13:17

Going beyond legal roles and into operator positions: 20:41

Fundraising as General Counsel and Head of Intellectual Property at Cervest Limited: 24:45

Reflecting on the experience of building and losing a business as a lawyer: 32:13

Resetting after a difficult work experience: 35:58

Joining Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati as Senior Counsel: 42:19

Building a meaningful life: 51:28

Connect with us:

Raj Mahapatra - https://www.linkedin.com/in/rajmahapatra/

Tyler Finn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/tylerhfinn

SpotDraft - https://www.linkedin.com/company/spotdraft

SpotDraft is a leading CLM platform that solves your end-to-end contract management issues. Visit https://www.spotdraft.com to learn more.