Episode 24-Outside GC-A Different Model for Your In-House Career

Law is a conservative business. Prior to the emergence of the internet, lawyers primarily worked for traditional law firms or in-house.  There really weren’t any other models for the delivery of legal services.  You either showed up every day at your firm job or at your corporate job. Starting in the late 1990s, new models of practice began to emerge.  A group of lawyers who described themselves as outside general counsel began to offer legal services on a consulting basis. Because these individuals were not maintaining fancy offices or office infrastructure, they could offer their services as experienced lawyers on an as needed basis. Since that time, this model has continued to evolve and there are now a range of options for lawyers looking for alternative careers and clients looking for big firm experience at a more reasonable rate structure. In 2002, Bill Stone saw the value of the outsourced GC model and he teamed up with his partner Jon Levitt to form Outside GC.  They wanted to find a way to scale up the outsourced model without simply creating another law firm. Since that time, Outside GC has grown substantially and has been providing outsourced legal services at rates that are far below the rates charged by large law firms.  Under their model, clients have access to senior lawyers who have over a decade of experience working in house.   Lawyers working for Outside GC have a lot of flexibility to work remotely and function like outside lawyers without the administrative costs and time spent on administration in private practice. On today’s show, Bill talks about Outside GC, how he and his partner started the business and how the business has evolved.  He provides some great insights into how working for Outside GC can be a great next step for experienced in-house counsel. Bill has served both as outside general counsel for companies in a variety of industries, and as an executive business development professional. Bill's legal practice focused on international joint ventures, mergers & acquisitions, corporate finance and general corporate counseling, primarily to technology companies. Before co-founding Outside GC, Bill led an international business development team as VP Business Development for eBT International, Inc., a Nasdaq-traded enterprise software company. Prior to that, Bill served as Vice President Corporate Development and General Counsel for Verde Media, Inc., a venture capital-backed media company in San Francisco.  Before joining Verde, Bill practiced law as a partner in the law firm Tonkon Torp LLP, where he co-founded the firm's technology practice group, and acted as general counsel to multiple technology, manufacturing, service and retail companies. Immediately after law school, Bill served as a law clerk in the chambers of the Honorable Mark L. Wolf in the federal district court in Boston, Massachusetts.  He is a graduate of Tufts University where his youngest child is now a freshman and Harvard Law School. Other Resources What I’ve Learned as In-house Counsel- here I surveyed over a hundred in-house attorneys to get their input on what it was like to transition to an in-house role In-house With Walt Pollard-one of my first podcasts.  I interviewed an AGC at BBH who participated in the survey above.  He has some great advice about going in-house From Big Law to Government to In-house-another podcast-my guest has been particularly effective at using networking to advance her career (you can also find my podcasts on iTunes or wherever you get podcasts) Mapping Out Your Future, a career panel I moderated at the BBA