Be a smarter legal leader

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TLDR

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• Being a General Counsel at a startup requires you to be a good generalist
• If you’re the first lawyer at a startup, you’re going to be doing everything
• Communication is key and take the time to meet with your team and the C-suite
• Learn how to clearly illustrate issues and communicate in a succinct way
• Don’t underestimate the power of ALSPs (Alternative Legal Service Providers)

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Resources Mentioned

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• Lexology
• Investment Advisor Association
• SIFMA
• TechGC
• Carta
• DocuSign

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Intro

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• Meredith Smith is the General Counsel at Stash, the personal finance app, helping +5M Americans reach their financial goals.

“I Put the General in General Counsel” - Direct Quote from Meredith Smith

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• Meredith started her law career at Sullivan & Cromwell in the Financial Institutions Group.
• She worked at S&C for 9 years where she was trained in a “generalist philosophy.”
• Meredith was the first lawyer to be hired at Stash
• S&C career counseling center connected Meredith to Stash
• As the only lawyer at Stash, she had her hands in everything. You name it, she did it

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What A Normal Day Looks Like

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• In the morning, she catches herself up on the latest legal and regulatory news by reading:
• Lexology
• Investment Advisor Association
• SIFMA
• Meredith’s role has evolved to include more management as she’s moved from a VP level to C-suite level
• Meetings galore! Meredith has recurring meeting with:
• C-suite and senior leadership
• One-on-ones with everyone that reports to her
• Skip-level 1:1s
• Cross functional meetings
• The rest of the day is TBD based on what’s going on in the world of Stash

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The Dark Side of Being A Speedy Email Responder

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• Stash is a client of Lawtrades and our cofounder Ashish reveals to Meredith, “You’re one of the fastest [customers] to respond to emails”
• Meredith watches her email and Slack “like a hawk”
• But she wants to incorporate “makertime” AKA blocking off 2-3 hours of the day to sit down and work with no distraction … this would mean turning off all notifications

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Making The Transition from A Law Firm to A Startup

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• At S&C, Meredith was expected to be available at all hours of the day including weekends
• The daily pace of a startup is super fast and requires you to make decisions quickly
• Learn how best to accumulate facts and get a decent handling on the law
• You have to be comfortable making decisions when you don’t have the full story

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How to Navigate The Annual Board Meeting

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• Board meeting is only a couple of hours, so focus on explaining high ticket items in a succinct way
• You’re not going to hit everything you want at a board meeting
• Discuss the most important issues and the biggest risks facing the company

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Be Real with The C-Suite

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• Make your communication real
• Here is the issue. Here is how it could go wrong. Here is how it could affect us.
• Don’t be abstract when presenting an issue; explain it using this logic - “If this then that”
• Always include TLDR (To Long; Didn’t Read)
• People don’t read long emails so hit high levels and go from there

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Skills Every GC Should Have

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• Be curious about the business, industry, and macroeconomic environment.
• Learn everything you can
• You don’t need to be an expert in everything, but be well versed so you can speak with outside counsel or a Lawtrades lawyer
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Why Every GC Should be Buddies with The CFO and Finance Team

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• Prior to coming to Stash, Meredith had little experience creating a budget headcount and hiring plans
• Build a good relationship with the CFO and finance team, so if you make a mistake in the budget, you have leeway

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The Most Asked About Question: Headcount

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• Look a year in advance when thinking about headcount
• Salaries are a very big part of budget
• Base your hiring off of the company-wide employee projections
• Checkout TechGC

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Factor Outside Counsel into The Budget

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• Think strategically
• Ask yourself questions like:
• Is the company releasing a new product that requires a specialized lawyer?
• Are we fundraising?

Your First Time…Hiring Of Course!

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• Use a legal assistant or paralegal before your next legal hire
• Consider what takes up most of your day; decide if your energy could be better directed towards other, higher-level issues
• Don’t hire a lawyer if you’re giving them tasks that isn’t helping them grow their career

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Thoughts on ALSP And Outside Counsel

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• Big law firms will always have their place and are a great one-stop-shop
• Use cases for big law firms include M&A, IPO, fundraising, debt fundraising, and large, complex deals
• ALSP (Alternative Legal Service Providers) like Lawtrades satisfy a very different need, Meredith has used Lawtrades twice - once for her maternity leave and a second time for a colleague’s maternity leave
• A resource like Lawtrades is great because they have access to lawyers of a high caliber and extensive in-house experience

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The Question We Love to Hate: Is NYC Dead?

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• NYC is Stash’s headquarters
• Stash is indefinitely remote but definitely plans to come back to NYC when it’s safe to do so
• Meredith is confident NYC will come back

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Last Thoughts

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• Meredith’s biggest concern using Lawtrades was if the lawyer could get up to speed fast enough
• The lawyer surpassed Meredith’s expectations
• “She’s awesome.”
• “Don’t think that someone can’t get up to speed quickly. It’s possible if you do it the right way on your end and the lawyers end.” - Meredith Smith

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Lawtrades Helps General Counsels Prepare for Maternity Leave

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🙈 Reduce the stress of finding a temporary replacement for maternity leave by using Lawtrades. Navigate an invite-only network of attorneys, paralegals, and legal ops to find the best fit for your needs. Backed by smart workflows, the Lawtrades platform makes it super easy to onboard and integrate new talent.

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How do you prioritize major projects and career development for a legal team? One way is to outsource time consuming day-to-day contract work. That’s exactly how GIPHYand its VP of Legal and Corp Dev, Jen Rubnitz, used Lawtrades.

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Meet Jen Rubnitz and GIPHY

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Does GIPHY really need any introduction? Probably not, but it is the internet’s leading repository for searchable GIFs.

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Jen Rubnitz is the company’s VP of Legal and Corp Dev. She joined in 2017 after working as an associate at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP and Gunderson Dettmer, where she first built a relationship with GIPHY. In her spare time, Rubnitz is a runner who also practices yoga and has lately taken up ceramics.  

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How Lawtrades helps GIPHY

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• Miscellaneous legal work: Lawtrades mostly assisted GIPHY with commercial contract overflow work. It reviewed SaaS agreements and statements of work for customizable GIFs.
• The work BigLaw wouldn’t do: For a long time, Jen wanted to reduce the size of GIPHY’s NDA form from 2.5 pages to 1 page. She didn’t have time to do it herself and wouldn’t have hired a Big Law firm for such a task. But Lawtrades helped her complete that task.

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Why Jen recommends Lawtrades to all her GC friends

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• Deep experience levels: Jen saw the options Lawtrades provided and realized the attorneys were talented and experienced. “In some cases I was interviewing people who had been in-house for a decade in addition to working at big firms.” The lawyer that GIPHY hired from Lawtrades immediately knew the specific legal work GIPHY was looking for.  
• A quicker, closer relationship than Big Law: GIPHY’s Lawtrades lawyer was part of the GIPHY legal team’s Slack. He could turn the work around within hours after being pinged. “People thought of him as part of the team,” Jen said.  
• Less day-to-day contract work and more big picture improvement: With Lawtrades helping out, Jen felt like she was better able to focus on her own career and develop more experience for herself. “There’s a lot of career development that can come when you’re not stuck doing all the day-to-day work,” she says.

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Whether your company needs help with commercial contract overflow or more time seeing the bigger picture, Lawtrades’ talent pool of 300+ commercial lawyers can provide your team with the experience and flexibility to execute efficiently. Get in touch with us today.

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More about Lawtrades

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Working with Lawtrades enables legal departments to streamline contracts across their organization and better handle fluctuating workloads. Lawtrades’ commercial contracts service offers in-house teams with flexible lawyers, transparency, and workflow management to become more productive. With Lawtrades, in-house departments can meet company goals, whether a swift close to the quarter, the successful launch of a new product, or an organized roll out in a new market.

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In-person depositions were as much a tradition of law as the suit. After coronavirus, they may be an artifact, according to Law360.

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• Depositions have been one of law’s most change-resistant traditions: They tend to involve exhibits that are best distributed in person and are generally played back at trials through video, which used to require an in-person deposition. Lawyers also like to be in the same room as their clients.
• But video conference technology hasn’t prevented any of that from happening: Lawyers can still swap exhibits by sharing screens, they can enter separate “rooms” to pull aside clients and they can record the video deposition. Coronavirus basically introduced lawyers to a technique they should have been following for years.

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States have already extended remote deposition laws

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Florida needed a state Supreme Court decision for video depositions to happen. That decision has now been extended and is expected to last even longer.

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The Verdict

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The top reason for the remote deposition’s staying power could be client cost. While attorney fees should remain the same, clients will have far fewer miscellaneous costs to pay.

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Key Takeaways

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• Creating efficiencies and working with Lawtrades to access contract attorneys have both been critical to addressing company needs post-Covid
• Technology allows a lean team to accommodate heavy volume efficiently and effectively
• Nothing speaks louder than data, especially to someone in finance. If you can show someone concrete metrics, you can make a business justification for a particular spend
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Resources Mentioned

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• Google forms
• Google sheets

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Introduction

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• Kathy M. Zhu is Director of Commercial & Legal Ops at DoorDash
• She is also an advisor to LegalDesk, a workflow optimization platform designed to help in-house legal teams to manage requests as well as visualize workflow metrics on a beautiful dashboard. Kathy advises LegalDesk on product strategy and design based on learnings from her own experience from scaling a commercial team, managing multiple workstreams, and dealing with volume challenges.
• Kathy is a graduate of Notre Dame and the University of Michigan Law School and is based in San Francisco, CA
• She was formally Senior Counsel at Medallia, where she worked on key customer accounts including Hilton, Shell, Farmer's Insurance, and Toyota. Before moving to Medallia, she worked as an associate in corporate practice for the private Palo Alto law firm of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati

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The DoorDash Legal Team

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• Legal team is comprised of 22 individuals and will continue to grow
• Commercial side of the DoorDash legal team handles the company’s contracting needs worldwide, whereas Legal Ops is a brand new branch of the legal team that is still developing
• Additional legal team verticals beyond those overseen by Kathy: Product, Regulatory, Corporate Litigation, and Employment

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Dealing with Uncertainty Post- Covid

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• Uncertainty is a challenge that everyone faces – DoorDash is focusing its efforts on supporting the communities that need its services now more than ever
• Kathy has been helping to adjusting the company’s customer-facing approach and our internal business practices to accommodate work-from-home needs and the changing nature of everyday life
• These challenges are not a sprint, they’re a marathon, which is why she reached out to Lawtrades to onboard contractors that help us DoorDash meet its evolving business needs
• What drives the supportive internal team at DoorDash is that the work they’re doing is meaningful, partially because it is helping so many to maintain livelihoods so that they can put food on the table

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Managing Bandwidth Constraints

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• She is navigating the issue of adjusted prioritization by creating efficiencies wherever she can. Doordash has a significant volume issue that isn’t going to become scalable simply by “throwing more bodies” at that reality
• Evolving solutions include: Creating thresholds to minimize the deals that qualify for team support, creating self-help playbooks and a wiki to help others answer commonly asked questions without direct team involvement, etc. to enable the teams she supports to “help themselves.” This is an approach for smaller legal departments and solo practitioners to keep in mind at this chaotic time and moving into the future
• Kathy relies heavily on technology to not only give her visibility into the work volume each member of her team is navigating, but also to track overall volume so that she can adjust the team’s collective approach (including qualification of thresholds) accordingly
• She uses contract attorneys through Lawtrades (cost effective, high-quality talent) for overflow work which helps to bridge the gap between hires
• Every team member “owns” certain verticals so there is no time waste assigning tasks and there is an organic streamlining of “point of contact” for DoorDash clients. – To that end, leads within verticals are empowered to handle prioritization of legal requests because they are in the best position to make informed decisions within their specialization
• Subscribe

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Utilizing Outside Counsel

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• Kathy’s team is very lean and supports a profound volume of verticals. It is the systems and tools Kathy has already noted (including hiring contract attorneys through Lawtrades to bridge gaps) that allow it to function as successfully as it does
• Spotting where an additional efficiency could serve as a game changer is critical (ie: a client that is a volume-intensive request generator could benefit from new tools that will allow them to cut down on generation requests)
• Use technology to gain visibility into your work so that you can translate those metrics into greater efficiency(Better metrics enable you to make informed decisions so that you can get ahead of your work instead of being crushed by it)

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Getting Access to the Resources Your Legal Department Needs

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• Nothing speaks louder than data, especially to someone in finance. If you can show someone concrete metrics, you can make a business justification for a particular spend

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Use Cases: Bringing on Contract Attorneys

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• Contractors have helped us with overflow volume when a team member is out on leave
• Contactor playbooks help to ensure that there is no training time waste when onboarding outside help – we create them for different areas of focus and they serve as reference tools for as long as a contractor is working with us
• Automatic intake processes cut down on manually assigning work to outside help
• We make expectations crystal clear (including speed/task completion rate) and only train contractors in the specific areas they’ll be working in  – contract attorneys have been a great resource for us

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Scale your legal department with the best legal talent

• ✅ Browse curated profiles
• ✅ Diverse talent network (>50% women)
• ✅ Time tracking & analytics
• ✅ 5 hours free

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Key Takeaways

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• The pandemic and economic downturn have changed “life” at AngelList and for startup founders generally. However, AngelList’s historic remote managerial model has made it easier for us to understand how to remain present and keep team engagement high in remote settings.
• VC seems to be faring well in a post-Covid world. Although the “how” and “where” of work is changing, the fundamentals of VC investment remain intact and are functioning well in this environment.
• Later stage companies have an opportunity to use the changing nature of the post-Covid world to reevaluate their approaches and adjust accordingly so that the investments they’re making truly support their models.
• Businesses are transitioning to a more fully remote model, but this change won’t be a wholesale one. There is only so much productive work that can be done in a fully remote capacity. Both businesses and individuals will have to find the balance that best accommodates their interests.
• Participating in AngelList syndicates and venture lead syndicate opportunities offers investors the ability to either place their resources in a single, innovative venture or to spread their risk around.

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Amir Hassanabadi is the Associate General Counsel at AngelList.

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An Introduction to AngelList

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The verticals of the business itself can be described differently from the perspective of the client at hand. There are three major client needs fulfilled by AngelList services and three main products we offer to meet those needs:

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• Startup fundraising - AngelList Venture
• Startup hiring - AngelList Talent
• Building a startup customer base - Product Hunt

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The AngelList and Lawtrades Relationship

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Lawtrades is a great supporter of AngelList because we help our clients fundraise on Venture and hire through Talent and we launched on Product Hunt. Now AngelList is a customer of the Lawtrades platform, which illustrates how valuable it can be to connect the visions of different startups and business models to produce mutually beneficial relationships.

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How Has the Legal Team Been Evolving at AngelList?

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Less than two years ago, the legal team was a “team of one.” Counting on a single individual to manage a superhuman workload isn’t sustainable, so by leveraging the services provided by Lawtrades, working with contractors, and growing the in-house staff to a team of four, the team is still over-leveraged but in more robust shape.

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Evaluating the ways in which the legal team will continue to evolve has obviously been influenced by the Covid-19 pandemic and recent economic downturn. We’ve obviously transitioned to remote work, but we’re feeling different impacts in different business units beyond that change. AngelList has experienced some layoffs, cut back on some spending, and taken some legal work in-house in an effort to keep operations sustainable. By contrast, the venture side of the business is growing. Our company exists to help startup founders and investors… we’re noticing that startup founders are finding that the current climate makes it relatively easy to fundraise but harder to build a customer base and navigate the hiring process.

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Making Remote Work Effective

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The AngelList model allowed for a lot of remote work generally pre-Covid. A remote managerial approach pre-Covid allowed the team transitioning into remote work during the pandemic to understand the importance of remaining present. Some useful tools and approaches have particularly aided in allowing staff to remain present during working hours:

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• Video calls
• Zoom
• Slack bots
• Fun gifs to punctuate the solitude of remote work
• Virtual in-house happy hours to help everyone remain connected as a team

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Additionally, the legal team has a standing weekly lunch and learn to talk through the issues of the day or an interesting shared piece of legal literature. This bonding helps to facilitate team morale by encouraging a shared consideration of issues with broad internal and external consequences.

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Venture Capital in a Post-Covid World

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AngelList is privy to a wide view of the VC world simply because AngelList works with such a wide variety of clients. If the AngelList view is a solid indicator of how VC is faring in a post-Covid world, VC is doing surprisingly well. The number and quality of the deals that are being made are reasons for optimism in this environment. It’s possible that valuations as a whole are going down, but that may be a good thing overall as it’s possible that valuations were becoming somewhat inflated and were in need of a deflationary influence. Interestingly, pressure from society is fueling an interest in pumping more money into venture. Americans want to spend money on physical infrastructure and other endeavors that allow for VC to thrive. It certainly seems like VC is in a better position to pull through this time period than some other industries are.

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With that said, some of the later stage companies that have raised tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars at high valuations and are now dealing with massive revenue declines and/or are seeking to secure another massive valuation may have a somewhat harder time. Many of these companies are tethered to physical locations and may need to lay off more workers, so the recent economic climate affects them in a nuanced way when compared to some startups and less traditional business models. When you’re grounded in a system that requires rapid growth, you’re not always making investments that are logical in the long-term. It is in this way that the current climate is allowing some businesses to reevaluate their approaches to support their most fundamental metrics.

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How Do Seed Stage Companies Look in a Post-Covid World?

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New founders launching companies during the crisis should consider that enterprises are likely going to look different moving forward in regards to the “how” and “where” of work. Remote teams, reduced or non-existent office space is going to be a reality. However, the underlying dynamics of VC at the seed stage - a time of “growth at all costs” as opposed to profitability and other factors that fuel future sustainability of a given model – are likely not going to change much in the wake of the current crisis. As the crisis was not born of mismanagement in terms of business dynamics, the fundamentals of VC remain intact. The only thing that would potentially shift the dynamics of VC (as opposed to the ways in which physical work is conducted) is a truly radical shift in the way the world operates after the crisis itself has resolved.

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Founders can take advantage of the “destruction” in the current market, including cheaper, readily available labor, more affordable costs generally, etc. to create noteworthy, valuable startups. The last economic downturn produced interesting, innovative business models (like Uber, AirBNB, etc.) and we should expect nothing less from this downturn.

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Will a Transition to a Fully Remote Work World Become a Reality?

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Not every company is going to go fully remote, either in Silicon Valley and the Bay Area or in the rest of the country in the wake of the pandemic. However, it is clear that a change is happening. Some companies, particularly newer companies, are going to be fully remote. With that said, when newer companies become truly expansive enterprises, it becomes harder for these ventures to operate in a 100 percent remote capacity. For example, in recognition of this changing world, companies like Facebook are allowing some employees to go fully remote, but that transition tends to come with a pay cut. Companies may need fewer workers to be physically on-site at any time, but as most large companies need at least some on-site workers, it will become a balancing act for individuals to determine whether they want to work remotely for less pay or on-site for higher pay. Similarly, it will be a balancing act for businesses to determine what percentage of their workforce they need to be physically present vs. remote in order to function at peak levels.

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With that said, disintegrated teams are learning how to function effectively as a result of the pandemic. Everyone knows how to use tools like Zoom now. Even populations that would have been resistant to use such technology before the initial lockdowns occurred. A shift towards remote work is going to happen post-Covid, and it’ll be more effective due to what we’re all learning now. That shift will help to satisfy a pent-up demand for more flexible working conditions that was affecting the workforce before the start of the pandemic. However, it won’t be a wholesale change because there is only so much effective work that can be done remotely at all times.

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Participating in AngelList Syndicates

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Syndicates are AngelList’s bread and butter. A syndicate is an investment in one single company. This form of investment represents the ultimate VC “bet” as you’re placing all your resources in one place. The platform provides access to these deals, which are often very good deals. Yes, if the company doesn’t succeed, you’ve risked a lot by placing all your eggs in that company’s basket. However, you similarly are rewarded handsomely when an investment pays off. For example, Uber was a syndicate on the AngelList platform and we all know how well that model has functioned.
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A potential syndicate investor on the platform will get to choose between various syndicates. We provide lead investors who supply the deal flow to the platform and show the syndicate on the platform. It’s up to investors to determine which syndicate leads and deals they trust and ultimately want to back. Note that a syndicate lead is different than the lead for the round of the venture fundraising. In this context, lead is a term that is used liberally.

We ultimately created a set of legal processes for a fund lead to invest in multiple syndicates because we were seeing such positive investment activity from syndicate leads that this transition naturally made sense. This way, as an investor on the platform, (instead of backing one or two syndicates) you can back a fund lead who will invest in multiple syndicates on your behalf. This can reduce risk and increase the probability of getting some “big hits” for individual investors. The resulting model acts more like a traditional fund in which multiple investments are made with the aim of having at least one or two pay off in big ways.

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A newer, successful innovative product we’ve created is a rolling venture fund, which is more focused on the fund lead and making their life easier. This process allows for accepting new capital into the fund in the form of auto renewing quarterly commitments. You can therefore start a venture on the platform with a relatively small startup amount and simply rely on the autofund commitments to increase the fund’s size. That way, fund leads don’t constantly have to go back to investors to raise new rounds.

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Who Are Some of Your Favorite Angel Investors?

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Ryan Hoover, who is the founder of Product Hunt has a fund called Weekend Fund and he does a fantastic job.

What Are Some of the Resources You Recommend for Anyone Interested in Startups?

AngelList generally and our blog specifically… of course. But also, the book “Venture Deals,” is a great foundational text.

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Key Takeaways

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• Lawyers with specialization and specific knowledge will gain a competitive advance when launching their virtual practice.
• The speed of innovation within the legal industry will vary based on practice area and nature of work.
• More companies are refusing to pay a premium for routine legal work and independent lawyers are filling that need.
• Lawyers focused on saving clients headspace and expensive overhead will succeed in this new economy.

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Jordan Schwartz runs his own virtual practice on Lawtrades as Transactional, Product, and Corporate Counsel to several notable high-growth companies in NYC, SF, and LA.

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• After graduating Columbia Law School, he started as a BigLaw attorney at Jones Day where he advised financial institutions on transactions and regulatory matters.
• He then served as General Counsel at Meta, one of the earliest startups to build augmented reality headsets, where he helped the company scale 10x and raise $100M until it was acquired in in 2018.

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Challenges of running your own practice

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• You have to learn different methods of communications, specific to each client, while trying to build your own business.

• It’s all about how quickly you can build a stable client base that can generate enough revenue for you in the beginning.

• Relationships with clients can change from reasons outside of our control.

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How to attract clients to your virtual practice

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• Have specific knowledge when addressing certain legal matters.
• Quality work and an agreeable personality will drive new clients and retain existing ones.

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Time management

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• A client will notify Jordan of their needs on a weekly or daily basis, often via email.
• Jordan has a set amount of time that he allots to per client depending on their situation.
• He builds in flexibility for emergencies and is upfront with his availability to maintain trust.
• Issues need to be resolved ASAP and you need to deliver at that speed – all clients will expect that.

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The future of law is independence

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• The speed of transformation within the legal industry will vary based on the practice area. For instance, tax law may not shift much.
• There are areas of law that need competency and a certain level of expertise. However, companies don’t need to pay a premium for everything and independent lawyers are creating this new opportunity for them.
• They’re not over-billing or creating massive expenses thanks to their low overhead and agility.

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Challenges GCs are currently facing across the board

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• There are numerous agreements, leases, and contracts that need to be renegotiated because of the change of landscape.
• We have a dysfunctional government, and there is no guidance for lawyers out there. Everyone is just hoping that the downside scenarios don’t play out.
• GCs need to navigate the needs of the business with the rapidly changing landscape. There is no set path, and tremendous liability is looming.

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Advice for lawyers who are laid off

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• Give going independent a shot – it might not have the prestige of a law firm, but you get your freedom back.

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Every Wednesday morning we normally send you informative, entertaining stories about the intersection of law and tech. This week, we want to address the unrest coursing through America and share a message of support for everyone affected by structural racism and inequality and police brutality.

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The killing of George Floyd ignited a movement, but the news of his death was all too familiar. The deaths of black Americans like Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Botham Jean, Eric Garner and Atatiana Jefferson have highlighted America's lack of equality and the fears and obstacles black people live with every day. As a minority-founded business, these issues matter deeply to us. We want to live in a country where everyone can enjoy the same freedoms, from having equal educational opportunities to being able to go for a jog without fear.

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Change is long overdue. To build a better America, we must act now. We are donating to the following organizations and encourage you to do the same:

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• The NAACP Legal Defense Fund
• The George Floyd Memorial Fund
• Black Lives Matter  

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We also encourage and support all peaceful protests against racism and injustice. It is only through awareness, action and constant dialogue that America can become the equitable country it needs to be. Let's do this together.

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The Lawtrades team,

Raad Ahmed

Ashish Walia

Amit Roopnarine

Bryan Ryu

Jerry Thomas

Olivia Chan

Nilesh Patel

Jared Stark

Elizabeth Cuccinello

Joseph Budd

Jordan Schwartz

Jon Hood

Patti Mefford

Paul Ryan

Josh Garber

Sonya Thomas

Alex Angarita

Susan Bell  

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It’s becoming clear we’re in this for the long haul. So here’s some advice from GC’s, as reported by Law.com, for overcoming challenges while workers are spread out.

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• “Encourage people to take care of themselves, be sensitive to how people are reacting [to working at home], encourage them to make it a peaceful, comfortable environment. Take time to go for a walk, or clean up around you if that’s what you need. And overcommunicate with teammates.” -- Christina Ibrahim, general counsel of Weatherford International

• “We communicate exhaustively with our staff, clients, vendors, regulators, executive management and board. [It’s important] to ensure the human connection is maintained and enhanced during this strange period of social isolation.” -- Dave Hattem, chief legal officer of Equitable Holdings

• “It’s helpful in some contract negotiations, when normally we would meet in person, to do conference calls to finish up the details. After the first week I suffered some “home fatigue,” and I realized I need to take regular breaks, put up some boundaries so I don’t start early in the morning and work late into the night, make sure I eat and go outside to take short walks. It made a world of difference.” -- Adwoa Awotwi, general counsel of LocumTenens.org

• “One thing that is more difficult is doing a workshop to work through an issue with a multidisciplinary team. Virtual tools can be used but are not a substitute for face-to-face interaction. The advising in a negotiation setting or in brainstorming for product development and the like is not the same.” -- Richard Nohe, general counsel of BT Americas, Inc.

• “Respect the fact that team members are moms and dads and spouses and children first. I made it clear that foremost they have to take care of themselves and their families, and then somewhere down the line they are members of this team.” -- Mark Smolik, general counsel of DHL Supply Chain

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Key Takeaways

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• This crisis has put the gas pedal on providers allowing telemedicine.
• Oscar has a personalized risk assessment survey. You can access this survey even if you are not a member. If you are a candidate for testing, it will refer you to a testing site.
• The danger of a fully remote workforce is not communicating enough. Communicate more than ever when working remotely.If you think it can be useful to someone, then communicate it out.
• In the long run, COVID-19 will drastically change the healthcare system.
• Our society is all in this together.
• Subscribe

Resources Mentioned

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• Oscar
• Oscar’s COVID-19 Resources
• WTF with Marc Maron

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Hank Greenberg works as General Counsel at Oscar Health.

Over the past five years, Oscar has built a health insurance company that people actually want to talk to – one that engages members and guides them to the right care. Today, Oscar drives the highest levels of engagement in health care, helping over 250,000 individuals and businesses – from startups in Brooklyn, New York to bookkeepers in Bouldin Creek, Austin – take charge of their health.

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Working at Oscar during COVID-19

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• Oscar has the most engaged members in the industry, with the highest mobile engagement of any insurer. 43% of our members’ first visits to the doctor are routed through their technology and customer service teams.
• Oscar is partnered with more than half of the top 20 health systems in the U.S.
• The company is lucky to already have resources set up. They accommodate work from home in a big way. Oscar has been able to maintain the continuity of their work by setting up goals and touchpoints for their team.

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COVID Resources

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• Oscar has a personalized risk assessment survey. You can access this survey even if you are not a member. If you are a candidate for testing, it will refer you to a testing site. This survey is constantly being updated.
• For members, you can call the care team to find the right provider for you.
• If you have symptoms, you can call the care team to find the right place to go.

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How Telemedicine will move forward

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• COVID-19 accelerated telemedicine.
• More and more services are moving online.
• The availability for telemedicine is moving forward state by state.
• This crisis has put the gas pedal on providers allowing telemedicine.
• Everything that can be done remotely is being done remotely now.
• The state of preparedness for something like this will become a talking point for policy change from now on.
• Hopefully, there will be more attention to PPE for healthcare workers.
• This will affect the way that people get healthcare.

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GC’s working remotely

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• It has been difficult to move remotely. There are certain types of work that are more capable of working remotely. However, legal teams can work remotely fairly seamlessly.
• Communicate more than ever when working remotely. It can be hard to appreciate what you are hearing or what you aren’t hearing.
• Don’t hesitate to click send on an email or pick up the phone. If you think it can be useful to someone, then communicate it out.
• The danger of a fully remote workforce is not communicating enough.

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Closing thoughts

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• We have to continue the things that we are doing with social distancing.
• The world needs to make sure that everyone is doing their part.
• All of the short-term tradeoff’s will be worth it if we can reduce the amount of loss of life.
• Back in the office in a few months

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Bad news for Zoom lovers: The platform’s ease of use has made it a target for hackers and trolls. That is not good for attorneys, who depend on privacy. But there are several tips and services lawyers can follow to ensure better security while working remote.

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• If you still want to use Zoom: Be sure to require everyone to enter a password to get into the meeting and have the leader of the meeting approve everyone who joins.  

• Send messages over Signal: Signal is known for its security, with privacy as the default setting. It also has a videoconferencing service available.

• Pay more Legaler: If your company is thinking about videoconferencing as a longterm solution, it may be smart to check out Legaler. It is a conferencing and management platform built specifically for lawyers and has security and legal-related features that Zoom and Google Hangouts lack. Legaler starts at $19 a month.  

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Read more about Legaler and other pros and cons of remote work platforms here.

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Major companies, including some in tech, have long enjoyed an arbitration system that has made it difficult and costly for individuals to mount successful cases against them. But lawyers and startups, according to The New York Times, have found a new way to go after the biggest fish: sheer volume.

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• Why arbitration worked for big companies: Arbitration is often a costly, drawn-out process. And the few plaintiffs who can afford to bring complaints against companies usually don’t make enough money for the fight to be worthwhile.
• But there was demand for arbitration: Although only 30 people have brought litigation against the telecoms industry the last few years, Teel Lidow, a lawyer and entrepreneur, quickly found at least 1,000 people who wanted to take action.  

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Enter the startup solution

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Lidow started a service, FairShake, that brings people together who want to start litigation against massive companies and then files their claims at once. Call it mass arbitration. With hundreds or thousands of similar claims brought by one attorney, the legal cost is not as high for an individual.

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• Lidow and another firm, Keller Lenkner, have found companies can’t deal with the volume. DoorDash had 2,250 claims served against it in one day last summer. The food delivery company wrote in a federal court filing that it was “scared to death.”

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The Verdict

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DoorDash has been trying to get out of arbitration, the long preferred destination for major companies. FairShake and Keller Lenkner could upend one of the most routine business litigation traditions of the last several decades.

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When it comes to working from home, the technology isn’t the hard part (everyone knows how to display an island background behind them on Zoom, duh!). For attorneys, the struggle has been staying in touch with co-workers, especially pertaining to supervisor-employee relationships.

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• People aren’t picking up the phone: A survey of 300 attorneys by The Red Bee Group showed that 26 percent of respondents had not participated in an employer-led conference call or video call since beginning to work remotely. Only half had received check-in phone calls from supervisors.
• The struggle is real: On the surface, no calls with the boss or (sometimes annoying) co-workers may seem like heaven. IRL meetings are the worst. But Zoom get-togethers and phone calls, regardless of the topic, have replaced the water cooler and coffee break banter that keep us focused throughout the day.  

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The key for maintaining work relationships

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Discussing the survey results, Roberta Liebenberg, a principal at Red Bee and a senior partner at Fine, Kaplan and Black in Philadelphia, told Law.com that employers and attorneys “are going to need to communicate in a way they are not really used to,” with more empathy and in a more personal fashion.

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The Verdict

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Get creative with ways to stay in touch with your co-workers. Virtual happy hours are easy to schedule. And one firm in Boston, Foley Hoag, has started an in-house newsletter where attorneys share pictures of pets, kids and workspaces once a week.

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According to Bloomberg Law, bankruptcies for businesses for February and March will be down compared to last year. That doesn’t mean coronavirus hasn’t had an effect yet. Expect a surge to come in a few months.

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• Businesses are waiting on the stimulus: The $2 trillion deal reached last week by the federal government offers monetary relief and potential loans to businesses. They will likely spend time figuring out if the help is enough to offset their losses or wait to judge customer sentiment when quarantine orders end.
• Bankruptcies are expensive, too: The last thing a struggling company needs right now is the $1,000 an hour rate top bankruptcy attorneys charge.

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Withholding rent may be the better option

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Retailers might be able to bide time for themselves by withholding rent. Mitchel Friedman, senior vice president at RCS Real Estate Advisors, told Bloomberg Law that landlord actions against tenants will be difficult to enforce now, given the number of business tenants struggling and temporary waivers on evictions in many jurisdictions.

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The Verdict

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Despite the delays, bankruptcy attorneys are preparing for a rash of bankruptcies -- more than from the 2008 financial crisis. Rachel Strickland, co-chair of the bankruptcy practice at Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP told Bloomberg Law, “Any company that was already on the edge is now at the tipping point.”

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Force majeure has been one of the most important phrases in a lawyer’s vocabulary the last couple weeks. It’s a clause in many contracts that excuses a party from carrying out its obligations because of unforeseen circumstances.

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Is force majeure working for GCs in the coronavirus crisis?

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• The NBA provides a good example: The NBA postponed the season in mid March and may cancel it altogether. A force majeure clause in its contract with NBA players states that “epidemics” are considered an “act of God” that would make it impossible to fulfill payment contracts. Legal experts believe the NBA could forgo payments to athletes for any portion of games not played, although it has not done so yet.
• The key is the word “epidemics”: If your contract doesn’t have a similar way to describe what’s been happening -- pandemic, virus, disease, quarantine, state of emergency -- you may be out of luck. Courts are known to narrowly rule on the applicability of force majeure clauses and typically require a specific phrase in the contract that relates to the circumstance preventing the contract from being fulfilled.    

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The force majeure alternative  

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If a force majeure clause won’t cover the problem, lawyers can also seek to use impossibility or impracticability defenses. Doing so requires proving that it was objectively not possible to perform the duties of a contract. That’s a high bar, but restrictions on essential businesses could count as proof.

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The Verdict

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Analysts at Gunder Dettmer always recommend seeking potential alternatives agreeable to both parties before invoking a force majeure clause. And as you draft new contracts in the future, don’t forget key words related to epidemics and pandemics.

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Despite early attempts at federal relief, the economy keeps taking hits. This is how the legal industry will likely be impacted during an economic downtime, according to Law.com.

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• Demand for legal services could drop: The demand declined after the 2008 financial crisis, and Hugh A. Simons, former senior partner of The Boston Consulting Group, expects a greater fall this time.
• The effect on hiring outside counsel: With demand for legal services down, in-house counsel will keep much of the work for themselves. If they hire outside help, they will almost certainly seek discounted rates (shameless plug: Lawtrades’ cost-effective remote workforce).

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What lawyers should be doing now

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Simons recommends focusing on clients or legal issues that require the most immediate need. Secondly, budget now. Consider the possible financial restraints in the future and prioritize plans that will be important enough for your client or company to pay for.    

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The Verdict

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No one knows what to expect for the coming weeks and months, but bracing for the worst and making a plan may help -- and will at least keep you sane for now.

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For now, California is the lone state with new online privacy measures, courtesy of Assembly Bill 5. But these laws are likely coming everywhere else soon. Checkr’s Irene Liu explains on ABA Journal how to be on top of the changes.  

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1. ‍Start advocating now: Talk to lobbyists and lawmakers throughout the US and try to convince them about the importance of setting uniform standards across state lines. Join a trade association related to these concerns.

2. Focus on consistency: When you are faced with a handful of different laws, try to use language that can be broadly applied across jurisdictions.

3. Talk to other companies: Many people and companies have found privacy regulations to be difficult. Getting ahead of the curve -- with the help of others -- will be beneficial for all.

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Key Takeaways

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• Competition and high-pressure environments start in law school. It takes a special kind of person to thrive in this industry.
• Develop a mindfulness and meditation practice to improve mental health as a lawyer.
• To improve your mental health, practice mindfulness, exercise, sleep and eat healthy and nutritious foods.
• Companies should prioritize their employee’s mental health in the workplace. Reducing burnout and stress will cut down on sick days and improve work efficiency.

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Resources Mentioned

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• Michael’s LinkedIn
• Headspace
• God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
• The BS Report
• AllTrails

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Michael Marchand is the Director of Legal Affairs at Headspace Inc.

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• He oversees the Headspace legal function. Key areas of responsibility include: Consumer Protection, Risk Mitigation and Conflict Management; Commercial Transactions; Data Privacy and Security; Intellectual Property; Corporate Governance; and Capitalization.

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The legal department at Headspace

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• There is a 50/50 split between transactional work and risk mitigation endeavors. Michael tends to focus on the risk mitigation endeavors while his associate corporate counsel leads most of the transactional work.

Mental health within the legal industry

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• The profession of law is a high-stakes and high-pressure career path. There are a lot of expectations you need to manage. Plus, you have to deal with judges and opposing counsel.
• The high-pressure ecosystem starts in law school. How you do academically will directly impact your career path. Your peers in law school will become your competition. Competition is not necessarily a bad thing; it is just intense.
• Litigation turns into putting pressure on the opposition and making their lives uncomfortable. Discovery can get incredibly petty. Michael has been in scenarios where the other side is trying to create leverage or apply pressure.
• It takes a particular personality to enjoy a high-pressure environment, or it takes a great deal of training to handle it.

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Advice for lawyers who are struggling with mental health

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• Develop a meditation and mindfulness practice.
• Headspace has 25 published studies that demonstrate the various positive effects of their platform.
• Exercise is a huge mental health tactic for Michael. He likes to make sure his exercise is fun. For example, he plays in a basketball league. It helps him blow off steam and reduce stress. The outcome from his basketball game will directly affect how he feels for the rest of the week. Sleeping well is also vital for anyone who struggles with mental health.
• Eat healthy and nutritious food.
• Socialize with people you care about. Michael makes sure to prioritize spending time with people he likes. It’s easy to take relationships for granted. The impacts of chatting and hanging out with people you love are beneficial.  
• Give back and dedicate time to improve the lives of others – it is such a great use of time, and it will make you feel fantastic. Headspace is always looking for opportunities to give back to the community. Our culture loses sight of the intrinsic benefits of giving back. Michael does not mean writing a check, roll up your sleeves, and do the work. Plus, it will help you take a step back from your problems.

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Putting employee wellness first in the workplace

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• Innovative companies realize that the workplace is the leading source of stress and burnout. Burnout will result in more sick days and higher employee turnover.
• Headspace has developed a Headspace for Work tool. Companies can purchase bulk subscriptions to hand them out to their employees. There are 500 companies on the Headspace for Work platform.

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Michael’s meditation routine

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• Michael does his first meditation when he gets out of the shower – it anchors his daily practice. The hairdryer will help calm and relax Michael’s mind. He sits on the ground and does a Headspace session.
• Later in the day, Michael has mindful moments where he is hyper-aware. He tries to do this at least ten times a day. It can be something as little as standing up or sitting down at his desk.
• When Michael is warming up to exercise, it’s the perfect moment to practice mindfulness.

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Advice for someone who wants to start meditating

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• Headspace is how Michael began meditating. It’s perfect for beginners who are curious about what meditation has to offer. It has a soft and approachable outlook in terms of introducing the practice.

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Key Takeaways

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• There is never a typical day for an early-stage startup in the legal department.
• The hours at a startup are more predictable than at a law firm.
• Switching industries can be challenging. However, remember that you were hired for your diverse set of skills.
• The in-house counsel of your competitors is surprisingly a great place to seek advice.
• Think of your role as a stakeholder – you can’t say no or yes to every legal question, you want your equity to increase.

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Links Mentioned

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• Book: Barbarians at the Gate: The Fall of RJR Nabisco
• Book: Race for Profit: How Banks and the Real Estate Industry Undermined Black Homeownership (Justice, Power, and Politics)
• Podcast: Comedy Bang Bang
• App: Slack
• Get in touch: nspaulding@hometap.com

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Intro

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• Noah Spaulding (@noahspaulding) is the Chief Legal Officer at Hometap.
• Hometap provides a solution for homeowners to be paid for the equity they’ve accumulated in their home without a loan.

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What a typical day looks like for Noah

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• There is never a typical day for an early-stage startup in the legal department. Noah is covering the full scope of the legal needs for Hometap.
• Noah spends a few hours in the morning meeting with the finance and marketing teams to see where their growth projections are.
• Then, Noah spends a few hours doing regulatory and statutory research. There is going to be a lot of state-specific research. Later, Noah can do transactional and contract research. What do the actual contracts look like?
• Later in the day, Noah will do the random items that come up. Depending on the needs of the company, he will work with the finance team on the capital side.

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The hours at an early-stage startup

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• Noah gets in at 8:30 and leaves at 4:30. Later in the day, he works remotely.
• The hours are not dramatically higher at a law firm. Noah says his hours are more predictable at the startup.

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Overcoming challenges

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• Shifting industries can be a daunting task.
• Noah felt like he was starting over from scratch.
• Eventually, Noah realized that the company hired him for a reason. He has a specific skill set and can handle the full scope of legal needs.
• “Have confidence in your skills and why you were hired.” - Noah Spaulding

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Seeking mentors and advice

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• When Noah has questions, there are a few different places he can go to. Friends, former coworkers, online communities, and the in-house counsel of their competitors.
• Why do people help their competitors? When it comes to legal matters, there is a lot more to be gained by collaborating and becoming resources for others.
• When answering legal questions, you need to trust your instinct and accept that you will not be right 100% of the time.

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Tips for first time GCs

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• You can negotiate discounts with outside counsel.
• Coming in as a new GC, it is a great time to reassess if they are using the right firms.

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Recommended resources

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• Conferences and newsletters are not a waste of time.
• Take the time to find newsletters that are going to be the most helpful for you.
• If you do not have a broader legal team, then you may not hear updates of the latest in your specific field.

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Non-legal skills needed to succeed as a GC

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• Understand that when your role changes, the way you see problems also needs to change.
• Businesspeople do not like working with outside counsel. Outside counsel is more conservative.
• Be comfortable thinking about your position as a stakeholder. If you want your equity to be worth more, then you can’t say no to everything.
• Noah identifies his own weaknesses, so he hires to fill them. He does not have a lot of experience in the real estate world, so he hired someone who does.

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