While there’s no empirical data to chart a rise in female general counsels in Orange County, several local GCs say they’ve seen an increase over the past 15 years or so.
Being in-house can provide greater flexibility in terms of work hours, and it also provides value, with the opportunity to be a female leader in management, said Wendy Peterson, general counsel at Irvine-based law firm Knobbe Martens Olson & Bear LLP, where she handles internal legal matters. She describes general counsels as “someone whose advice is strategic and critical to the success of the enterprise.”
“It’s very satisfying to know that you have made a positive difference in your company’s or law firm’s business,” said Peterson, who’s held the position since 2002.
Any increase in female leaders at the executive level is “a net positive,” said Bernadette Chala, general counsel at Irvine-based Arbonne International LLC, which makes personal care and wellness products sold by an international network of independent consultants.
“It signifies to me that women in leadership roles is something that is becoming a given rather than something noted as unusual,” she said. “I am looking forward to the day when we don’t have to talk about the rise of female GCs anywhere.”
She noted that U.S. law schools have been graduating classes with an even male-female split for many years now and “we should see this reflected not just in private practice, but also (with) in-house lawyers and our leadership ranks in … in-house practice.”
Getting There
Female general counsels in Orange County entered their roles in a variety of ways, some by having a laser-like focus on the position straight out of law school, others by going with the flow.
Tania King, general counsel at Irvine-based call center operator Alorica, exemplifies the former. The company is the largest provider of “customer experience solutions” in the U.S. based on number of employees—it has more than 55,000—and the third-largest worldwide based on revenue, at $2.4 billion, according to a company spokesperson.
King said she saw herself first as a businesswoman, which made it challenging for her when she graduated from law school.
“I really enjoyed reading and learning about corporate strategy,” she said. “It intrigued me. I thrived on the ability to contribute to an organization’s success and growth, and as I learned about GC careers, I knew that is where I wanted to be, and I was willing to take a less-than-popular career track and start my career off in-house.”
She accepted a position as in-house counsel at QuickStart Intelligence, a Microsoft partner, right after graduating from Santa Clara University School of Law during the technology boom in 1995, “when they were willing to take chances on those of us without considerable experience,” she said. Within six months, she was promoted to general counsel.
She was recruited by Irvine-based Advantage Solutions and this year by Alorica, where she worked her way up to chief legal officer, chief compliance officer and secretary. She said being a GC presents a broad range of issues and challenges every day.
“One day, you may work on a union issue, and the next you must quickly switch gears and tackle a complex acquisition issue,” she said. “This type of workload requires (that) you have a broad range of expertise, as opposed to specific areas of focus. And it is very important to recognize, reward and retain talent in areas you may not have a large amount of expertise in.”
She also said GCs should be strategic in how they approach priorities and support their companies.
“Many like the fact that you don’t have to track your hours in-house, but be aware—you must become a data and insights expert and track how your initiatives are contributing to the growth and protection of the company’s bottom line. It might just be easier to track time.”
Shelli Black, general counsel at Newport Beach-based IHP Capital Partners, an equity capital provider for homebuilding and land development, took a more circuitous route. Her path to becoming general counsel started in 2003 as a partner at Irvine-based boutique real estate and litigation firm Pinto & Dubia LLP. The firm’s managing partner left to become general counsel and a deal originator at IHP, which at the time was one of Pinto’s largest clients.
Pinto soon disbanded, and Black and her real estate division joined Garrett DeFrenza & Stiepel LLP in Costa Mesa. At that point, she said her goal was to slow down so that she could spend more time with her husband and two young daughters. IHP was also a client of GDS, and she stayed with GDS part time to help with IHP matters. After about a year, she got a call from her previous managing partner that IHP wanted to form an in-house legal department and to bring over most of the GDS team.
“With an understanding that my hours would not be crazy and that I could work from home, I agreed,” she said.
Aimee Weisner, general counsel at Irvine-based medical technology company Edwards Lifesciences Corp., said she wanted to join a company where she could devote her efforts to just one client. Edwards’ products include heart valves.
“It’s a privilege to be general counsel and a member of the company’s executive management team. … At Edwards, it is particularly meaningful to me to be part of a company focused on helping patients around the world who suffer from structural heart disease or are critically ill,” she said. “It gives an extra level of meaning to my work, each and every day.”
Benefits
Several female general counsels in OC said they appreciate the flexibility that being in-house provides. Black said the ability to work primarily at home has been “amazing.” It enables her to participate in some of her children’s extracurricular activities during the day. To compensate, she works at night.
“Another benefit is not having to generate new clients,” she said. “When I was a partner, this task often required after-hours attention, which took away time from my family.”
Peterson said that while there’s flexibility, working in-house doesn’t always mean predictable hours.
“More than flexible hours, working in-house permits you to devote as much time as needed to address a legal issue that arises,” she said. “You are not constrained by the clock and the budget set by your client.”
Chala agreed. “When you are in-house, you can really focus on the quality of your work and the overall big-picture impact of the advice you are giving to your client, rather than constantly running your work product against the billable time units it took you to create it.”
Weisner said a general counsel’s workload is similar to that at a law firm but that the pace is different.
“I find regular business hours to be quite fast-paced, while evenings and weekends are less so,” she said.
Leadership, Mentoring
Several general counsels said they’ve gotten involved with women’s leadership initiatives at their companies. King and Joyce Lee, Alorica’s chief culture officer, are working together to develop a Global Women’s Leadership initiative at the company, King said. The initiative was designed to “ensure we have a mentor program in place to support (and) identify opportunities and develop our high-potential women leaders.” It’s global because the company is a global organization, “and we wanted to ensure we are inclusive of all women leaders, regardless of location.”
“I sincerely believe these initiatives have contributed to increased investment in the development and opportunities for women leaders,” she said. “Many of my female GC peers have shared that a mentor, either male or female, or a women’s leadership initiative, has had a direct impact on their career development and success.”
Peterson at Knobbe Martens said she advises those going in-house to continue to seek mentors in both the legal and business realms.
“Choose reliable, hardworking and bright counsel for your in-house team, and retain talented outside counsel,” she said. “Learn your company’s business, and always raise business issues that you identify in the course of providing legal services to the company. Consider what business issues arise based on your legal advice, and be prepared with suggestions on how to resolve those issues.”
