Career Advice Columns

Mike's latest column on Law.com

Latest Column

"I'm not going back"

While the downside of mostly-Zoom days is well chronicled, the forced change into working from home has led a large number of you to focus on how you really feel about your job.

Read it on Law.com

Mike Evers

Mike Evers is the Career Advice Columnist for Corporate Counsel Magazine

Mike is available for speaking and press engagements. Learn more.

Corporate Counsel Columns 2021

Feb. 5, 2021

Pandemic Bias in Hiring

While working from home at this stage in the pandemic is still widely accepted, companies have a bias in favor of candidates who are willing to interview in-person when making an important senior level hire.
Jan. 6, 2021

Winning at the Interview

Interviewing is a competitive sport. Play to win.

Corporate Counsel Columns 2020

Dec. 1, 2020

Career Advice Going into 2021? Never Let Them See Your Sweat

Maintaining a calm, confident, even-keeled professional demeanor comes naturally, or at least appears to come naturally, to the most successful inside counsel. I marvel when I see this trait displayed so consistently over a long period of time.
Nov. 12, 2020

Want to Up Your Job Search Game? Hyperlink It!

Attorneys are not digital animators or marketing gurus who are expected to get creative with resume styles and content. But you can, and in my opinion should, up your game with one simple tip: use hyperlinks.
Oct. 5, 2020

Diversity is Not Socially Distanced

Diversity in hiring is suffering from social distancing, Mike Evers writes. He encourages general counsel and human resources leaders to double down on their commitment to sourcing candidates thoroughly and creatively.
Sept. 3, 2020

The All Zoom Hire

It took six months into the pandemic for our firm to close on an “all Zoom hire.” Meaning: At no point did the new placement, now an assistant general counsel for a financial services company, walk into our client’s HQ facility or meet with her new boss.
June 17, 2020

Rainmaking for In-House Lawyers: Tips on How to be Valuable to Your Company

It is tempting to sit tight and wait out the proverbial storm. Resist that temptation. Show your fire in the belly. Be heard and be valuable!
May 7, 2020

Hire a Terrific In-House Lawyer Now

This month’s column is intended to serve as a reminder that hiring indeed continues, and some of the needs are pressing.
April 20, 2020

Video Interview Tips Specifically for In-House Counsel

To be clear, we all absolutely HATE video interviewing. Outside recruiters like me, internal HR folks, and especially the actual hiring manager CEOs and GCs … none of us want this. And so a strong preference to wait for the traditional process has become an added reason, beyond macro conditions, to kick the hiring can down the road.
March 5, 2020

Your Value in Times of Uncertainty

Your company likely already has a crisis plan ready if needed. But be the leader who goes the extra mile to do something lawyers do really well: issue spot.
February 06, 2020

Drawing Attention to Black GC List 2025

The list of GC-ready candidates is impressive, and hopefully the folks behind the scenes at this initiative are pushing the list directly to CEOs, EVPs of HR, and even board members.
January 08, 2020

2030 Vision: In-House Counsel’s Role Will Grow

I am stealing Heather’s title from Corporate Counsel’s January cover (“2020 Vision”), but with a twist of chutzpah. I am going to share my predictions of what in-house careers will look like in 2030.

Corporate Counsel Columns 2019

December 03, 2019

Know When to Shut Up and Listen

I realize that career advice columns often boil down to a variation on the phrase, “use common sense.” Yet, I was reminded recently that some lawyers can make $800,000 and fail to practice that concept.
November 04, 2019

Think Career Security, Not Job Security

Career security is about access to decision-makers, and your inside counsel counterparts control millions of dollars in outside counsel spend.
October 02, 2019

3 Easy Steps to a LinkedIn Black Belt

Failing to maximize your LinkedIn presence constitutes personal professional negligence.
September 09, 2019

Zombie Apocalypse Preparation

I have no idea what is coming around the bend. No one ever really does; they just have opinions. Can an in-house lawyer prepare for the Zombie Apocalypse just in case? Answer: Yes, especially if you don’t focus on and stress out about job security.
August 08, 2019

Go Around Human Resources

Let’s say you want to join the fictitious in-house legal department at Acme Corp. Either Acme has an active opening in its legal department, or it does not. What follows is a “how to” approach for each scenario.
July 15, 2019

Tips When Hiring Nonlocal Lawyers

We’ve gotten pretty good at figuring out who is willing to pull the trigger on such a major life change. That assessment is just as important as matching credentials and culture fit. I painfully recall losing a client 15 years ago (FifthThird Bank) when one of our recruits got cold feet about moving to Cincinnati, after he had accepted the position.
June 04, 2019

What’s the Best Fit for Startups? The Entrepreneurial GC

I love working on in-house positions with startups, especially first general counsel hires. And recent work has emphasized a request we often hear from clients in fast growth mode: “Get us candidates who are entrepreneurial.”
May 08, 2019

Play Offense With Your Career

Always know where you stand, and be honest with yourself about where you stand.
April 04, 2019

The Weed GC: Culture Fit Matters

I just took my search firm’s first order within the cannabis industry, a general counsel role for a leading grower of legal marijuana. Interest in the role is high (OK, the puns are easy!), but I’ve already rejected one of my favorite candidates.
March 07, 2019

It’s Hiring Season! Now Is the Best Time to Find Talent

March through June is the most active window for recruiting at the professional level generally across disciplines.
February 06, 2019

Street Lawyering at Your Company—It’s Really Not a Bad Idea

Wills, divorces, consumer credit problems, landlord disputes and traffic violations all have two things in common. One, handling such matters is firmly outside your job description. Two, if you are in-house with a large company, your rank and file co-workers in the field are dealing with personal legal issues such as these all the time.
January 08, 2019

In-House Counsel: Become a ‘Yes, And’ Businessperson in the New Year

Whatever word we use to describe what you do for a living, however, here is what nonlawyer clients tend to hear: NO. At many companies, the prevailing view of the law department is still a hybrid of traffic cop and bureaucrat.

Mike's Columns on Law.com

Career Advice Columns

Mike's latest column on Law.com

While the downside of mostly-Zoom days is well chronicled, the forced change into working from home has led a large number of you to focus on how you really feel about your job.

Mike Evers

Corporate Counsel Columns 2021

While working from home at this stage in the pandemic is still widely accepted, companies have a bias in favor of candidates who are willing to interview in-person when making an important senior level hire.

Interviewing is a competitive sport. Play to win.

Corporate Counsel Columns 2020

Maintaining a calm, confident, even-keeled professional demeanor comes naturally, or at least appears to come naturally, to the most successful inside counsel. I marvel when I see this trait displayed so consistently over a long period of time.

Attorneys are not digital animators or marketing gurus who are expected to get creative with resume styles and content. But you can, and in my opinion should, up your game with one simple tip: use hyperlinks.

Diversity in hiring is suffering from social distancing, Mike Evers writes. He encourages general counsel and human resources leaders to double down on their commitment to sourcing candidates thoroughly and creatively.

It took six months into the pandemic for our firm to close on an “all Zoom hire.” Meaning: At no point did the new placement, now an assistant general counsel for a financial services company, walk into our client’s HQ facility or meet with her new boss.

It is tempting to sit tight and wait out the proverbial storm. Resist that temptation. Show your fire in the belly. Be heard and be valuable!

This month’s column is intended to serve as a reminder that hiring indeed continues, and some of the needs are pressing.

Your company likely already has a crisis plan ready if needed. But be the leader who goes the extra mile to do something lawyers do really well: issue spot.

The list of GC-ready candidates is impressive, and hopefully the folks behind the scenes at this initiative are pushing the list directly to CEOs, EVPs of HR, and even board members.

I am stealing Heather’s title from Corporate Counsel’s January cover (“2020 Vision”), but with a twist of chutzpah. I am going to share my predictions of what in-house careers will look like in 2030.

Corporate Counsel Columns 2019

I realize that career advice columns often boil down to a variation on the phrase, “use common sense.” Yet, I was reminded recently that some lawyers can make $800,000 and fail to practice that concept.

Career security is about access to decision-makers, and your inside counsel counterparts control millions of dollars in outside counsel spend.

Failing to maximize your LinkedIn presence constitutes personal professional negligence.

I have no idea what is coming around the bend. No one ever really does; they just have opinions. Can an in-house lawyer prepare for the Zombie Apocalypse just in case? Answer: Yes, especially if you don’t focus on and stress out about job security.

Let’s say you want to join the fictitious in-house legal department at Acme Corp. Either Acme has an active opening in its legal department, or it does not. What follows is a “how to” approach for each scenario.

I love working on in-house positions with startups, especially first general counsel hires. And recent work has emphasized a request we often hear from clients in fast growth mode: “Get us candidates who are entrepreneurial.”

Always know where you stand, and be honest with yourself about where you stand.

I just took my search firm’s first order within the cannabis industry, a general counsel role for a leading grower of legal marijuana. Interest in the role is high (OK, the puns are easy!), but I’ve already rejected one of my favorite candidates.

March through June is the most active window for recruiting at the professional level generally across disciplines.

Whatever word we use to describe what you do for a living, however, here is what nonlawyer clients tend to hear: NO. At many companies, the prevailing view of the law department is still a hybrid of traffic cop and bureaucrat.

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