Rodriguez-Newbern’s firm has only one client, the State of Florida, through a contract for the past 30 years. The firm specializes in child support cases in Orange County, Florida, working for the state on behalf of residents receiving public assistance. The state contract makes up the firm’s entire book of business.

Interested in a government contract? Both city and state websites are a good place to look, as well as networking to learn when contracts may be coming up.

Got questions or ideas about solo and small practices? Hit us up at NewSolo@legaltalknetwork.com

Topics:

• Learn about how a small, family, firm has prospered for 30 years with just one client: the State of Florida.
• Working in a firm with family members can be a challenge, but it can be rewarding as well. Family and professional life blend into one.
• Small, niche firms can always find ways to integrate technology, even if that’s at a careful, slow pace.

Judge Roy B. Ferguson presides over Texas’ 394th Judicial District Court.

Special thanks to our sponsor, LawPay.

Stacy Frazier is the executive counsel for competition law and policy at the General Electric Company.

Saralisa Brau is the chief antitrust counsel at McKesson Corporation in Washington, D.C.

Andrew King serves as the chief counsel and anti-corruption lawyer at the International Paper Company.

(Host) Natalie Hayes is an associate in Weil’s Antitrust/Competition practice group.

Nannette A. Baker is the chief magistrate judge of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri in St. Louis Missouri.

Timothy L. Brooks is a federal judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Arkansas.

Jeffrey T. Frederick is the director of jury research services for the National Legal Research Group Inc.

Shari Diamond is one of the foremost empirical researchers on jury process and legal decision-making, including the use of science by the courts.

Judge Joseph J. Farah serves on Michigan’s 7th Judicial Circuit Court.

William Kruse is Gallup’s regulatory compliance officer and in-house counsel, working primarily in support of the Government Division.

Shruti Krishnan is associate legal counsel at Tabletop Media, LLC d/b/a Ziosk, which owns and manufactures a proprietary suite of tablet devices for use in casual dining restaurants.

Adria Quintela is staff counsel and director of Lawyer Regulation for The Florida Bar.

Special thanks to our sponsor, Answer1.

Salle Yoo is General Counsel of Uber, the world renowned app-based ride hailing service. Prior to that, she was litigation partner at Davis Wright Tremaine LLP where she represented energy, telecommunications, and technology firms, as General Counsel, ensures that Uber can rapidly expand its global presence and sustain long-term growth in existing markets.

Kara Jermain is currently an associate counsel at Gallup, Inc. Prior to Gallup, she worked as a law clerk then associate attorney at Lamson, Dugan and Murray, LLP. She graduated in 2010 from Creighton University School of Law.

Thomas Moriarty is Executive Vice President, Chief Strategy Officer and General Counsel for CVS Health.

In this episode of In-House Legal, Randy Milch interviews Laureen Seeger about her path to AMEX, industry regulation and cybersecurity, and the importance of brand trust. It is important, she says, for small- and medium-sized firms to invest in security measures, which often involves educating staff on encryption and best practices. Seeger discusses the regular audits American Express administers to their third party affiliates, the benefits and downfalls of cyber insurance, and how her department prepares the AMEX board of governors with the cyber security  information they need to govern properly. She explains how cyber breaches can be much more expensive than periodically assessing business environment, putting protections in place, fishing internally for employees that need training, and encrypting information.

Laureen Seeger is executive vice president and general counsel of American Express Company, a position she assumed in July 2014.  As the corporation’s chief legal officer, Seeger oversees the law, government affairs and corporate secretarial functions for American Express and its subsidiaries. Prior to American Express, Ms. Seeger served as executive vice president, general counsel and chief compliance officer of McKesson Corporation and was with the Atlanta law firm of Morris, Manning & Martin, LLP from 1992 to 2000.

In this episode of In-House Legal, Randy Milch interviews Google Senior Vice President and General Counsel Kent Walker about his path to general counsel of Google and the current legal challenges the multinational technology company faces. Walker examines internet disruption and censorship and talks about how Google approaches the legal balance between personal privacy and the government’s need for access to information.

Walker begins by talking about his path through the U.S. Attorney’s office, AirTouch Communications, Netscape (which became AOL), eBay, and then ending up in his current position at Google and how different sources of training gave him the experience to be a successful general counsel. Through his history in tech companies, he has interacted with the evolution of information law in privacy and defamation, jurisdictional questions, intellectual property definitions, the limits on patents and copyright, and new questions about antitrust in a digital economy.

Milch and Walker then transition into a discussion on threats arising to the internet as it is today. As Google is intimately involved in the balance between necessary encryption and government access to information, Walker discusses how his legal department approaches this fine line. Discussion inevitably turns to censorship and the “right to be forgotten,” a misnomer actually meaning the right to be delisted from the search engines. They talk about self-censorship within tech companies like Facebook and Twitter, collaboration in Silicon Valley after the Snowden Revelations, and the international goal of access to information and freedom of expression.

As general counsel and senior vice president for legal, policy, trust, and safety at Google, Kent Walker is responsible for managing Google’s global legal team and advising the company’s board and management on legal issues and corporate governance matters. Before joining Google, Walker held senior legal positions at a number of leading technology companies. Earlier in his career, Walker was an Assistant U.S. Attorney with the United States Department of Justice, where he specialized in the prosecution of technology crimes and advised the Attorney General on management and technology issues.

In addition to providing access to content, Randy asks Ron about his path to Yahoo, which had some interesting stops along the way. Originally starting as an associate at Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal in Illinois, Ron set his sites on Silicon Valley fairly early in his career. Without being licensed in California or even an available position to apply for, Ron asked for a meeting at Apple Computer, Inc. As it turned out, a position opened during his visit and he was hired shortly after. Tune in to hear more about his story and what it takes to ascend to the top.

Ron Bell is the general counsel, secretary, and vice president at Yahoo. Prior to that, he served as deputy general counsel for several regions of the company as well as other legal positions as he advanced through the ranks. Before beginning his career at Yahoo, Ron served as senior corporate counsel at Apple Computer, Inc. and as an associate at the law firm of Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal.

In this episode of In-House Legal, Randy Milch interviews Fong about the course of his legal career, how his time in public service set him up to go in-house at General Electric, and how he charted his course internally at such a big company.

Topics include:

• Fong’s decision to switch from engineering to legal
• Clerkships for Judge Abner J. Mikva and Justice Sandra Day O’Connor
• Why he started in big law after law school
• Choosing the right company over a specific subject matter
• Appellate work, ecommerce, and patent litigation
• Fong’s position as Deputy Associate Attorney General at the U.S. Department of Justice
• Legal doctrines concerning unlawful conduct and the internet
• Moving in-house at GE and then becoming GC at Cardinal Health
• Doing pro bono work as a general counsel

Ivan Fong is senior vice president of legal affairs and general counsel of the 3M Company. In that role, he oversees all legal, compliance, legal policy, and government affairs matters for the company. He was recently named one of America’s 50 Outstanding General Counsel by the National Law Journal. Prior to joining 3M in October 2012, Ivan served for over three years as general counsel of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

During her tenure in Biglaw doing mergers and acquisitions, Deirdre found her calling working alongside in-house counsels. She realized that in order to advance, she would need to diversify her experience, so when the opportunity to head business development at USA Network came up, she took it. That off-path experience eventually paved the way for an offer from Thomson Reuters to head their legal department.

In this episode of In-House Legal, host Randy Milch interviews Deirdre Stanley about her path to the top. Together, they discuss her background, pivotal decisions along the way, and how being interested in multiple disciplines is the key to high level positions. Tune in to hear her advice for lawyers in today’s market and about her daily duties to maintain a free press worldwide.

Deirdre Stanley is the executive vice president, general counsel, and board secretary at Thomson Reuters. Prior to her current role, she held various legal and senior executive positions, including deputy general counsel at IAC (previously USA Networks, Inc.). From 1997 to 1999, Deirdre served as associate general counsel for GTE Corporation (a predecessor company to Verizon), where she headed the mergers and acquisitions practice group. She currently serves as a vice chair on the Board of Trustees of the Hospital for Special Surgery and is a member of both the Council on Foreign Relations and the Executive Leadership Council.