Corporate Counsel

“What kind of answer is that?’”

Well, “guy,” it is the kind of answer I give someone that either asks me to insult my boss (who I have much respect for) while he is sitting next to me or to someone who has a terrible case of Torrettes’ syndrome and for whom I feel sorry. Because I think you fall into both categories I don’t think I should have to explain myself any further. Nevertheless, I will.

What is wrong with corporate counsel?  Why can’t some of them relate to others, even other lawyers? Take my experience.  I met one today that was off the charts.

The first goal of any corporate counsel should be to safeguard the company from itself.  This goal is closely followed by the second goal of protecting the company from outside interests.  Patent counsels in the corporate world have the same goals. Nevertheless, those on top, and by on top I mean General Corporate Counsels, have little respect for internal patent counsel.  This was evident in my meeting… or interview, I really couldn’t tell which.

When one of our more important clients created a position for patent counsel, some of the partners in my firm went looking for someone here to fill that position.  My name was the first and last on their list. I have the right background, no ties to clients, and no wife to hold me in the city. So to satisfy all competing interests, I agreed to a token interview.

I’ve thought about making the firm to corporate transition before.  I’ve got a general understanding of the operation and purpose of outside patent counsel.  I know the issues facing corporations when they look in the “eyes” of Intellectual Property.  I think that with time, I could add something beneficial to a company. But, with this knowledge comes the knowledge IP counsels do not get the respect they deserve. They are generally under paid, under appreciated and expected to churn out patents for the corporate machine.

As for the interview, it was the most negative interview I have had. It wasn’t my answers, it was his questions. Why do you want to leave your firm and move? How do you work with difficult people? Can you work with emotional people?  What was your worst thing you’ve done?  Can you still be objective? Have you killed anyone? Could you? Can you say “no” to outside patent counsel? Do you value outside counsel’s opinions? Do you realize that they are wrong most of the time? Where do your loyalties lie? If a woodchuck chucked wood, would that matter?  All this was done with one of the partners sitting next to him.  And then he ended this with the gall to explicitly say that it wasn’t an interview and we’d have one sometime later.

Why in god’s name did he ask such questions? Not only did his questions give me a negative impression of his company, it was unprofessional to put me on the spot in front of my current employer.  Additionally, he reinforced my perception that corporate counsel is out of touch with reality.

*Prophet

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