“When defending a Lanham Act claim brought by a competitor, the doctrine of unclean hands—the lawyerly version of ‘But they did it too!’—can be a case-dispositive argument. Last month, the Ninth Circuit made it a bit easier to establish this defense, holding that a defendant arguing unclean hands need not prove that the plaintiff’s unclean conduct caused ‘actual harm,'” write Michael Sochynsky and Jonah M. Knobler in Patterson Belknap’s blog.

“The unclean hands defense is based on the equitable maxim that ‘he who comes into equity must come with clean hands.’ … Its roots lie in the English Court of Chancery—a royal ‘court of conscience’ that was able to grant relief in situations where the hidebound courts of law could not. Chancery’s unique focus on conscience and morality meant that plaintiffs seeking its aid were held to a high standard of behavior.”

“Unclean hands remains a viable defense today in the context of equitable claims.”

Read the article.

“As employees increasingly transition back into the physical workplace, employers have begun to grapple with whether and how to deploy COVID-19 diagnostic testing as a return-to-work solution. Many employers want to avoid extended employee quarantine or isolation requirements that prevent their employees from returning to the office for weeks and disrupt their operations. But is this potential solution legal? And is it effective?” ask Danielle M. Bereznay, Michael S. Arnold, Corbin Carter in Mintz’ Insights Center.

In this post they discuss practical considerations for employers to consider for a return to work COVID-19 testing strategy.

Read the post.

“A Texas justice of the peace opened the country’s first virtual criminal jury trial Tuesday, experiencing relatively few technical interruptions that have plagued other online court hearings since the Covid-19 pandemic began,” reports David Lee in Courthouse News Services.

“Travis County Justice of the Peace Nicholas Chu is presiding over the virtual courtroom using Zoom videoconferencing software and is broadcasting the trial live to the public on YouTube. Court proceedings began at 8:30 a.m. in a misdemeanor case against a Texas woman accused of speeding in a construction zone.”

“Prosecutors and defense attorneys spent the first three hours explaining how to use Zoom and engaged in voir dire by polling potential jurors as to their experiences and biases towards speeding tickets and construction zones. A six-member jury with one alternate was sworn in after 1 p.m. and the trial is expected to last all of Tuesday.”

Read the article.

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP is pleased to announce that Abigail B. Harris, an attorney in the firm’s Birmingham office, is the recipient of the firm’s 2020 Cameron J. Miller Award for Excellence and Community Service.

The award honors an associate who exemplifies the excellence, in and out of the law firm, of Cameron Miller, who died in June 2012 battling cancer while in his first year of practice as an attorney with Bradley. The firm established the award in conjunction with Miller’s parents, Frank and Alice Miller; his fiancée at the time of his passing, Katherine Perry; and Perry’s parents, Charlie and Sheri Perry.

The Cameron J. Miller Award for Excellence and Community Service includes a donation to a charity in Miller’s memory. This year, with the support of the Miller and Perry families, the firm will make a cash donation of $10,000 to the YWCA Central Alabama, which is the charitable/community service organization selected by Harris.

Harris has been actively involved with YWCA as a member of the organization’s Junior Board, serving five years–two years beyond the usual three-year term. YWCA’s mission is to eliminate racism, empower women, stand up for social justice, help families and strengthen communities. The Junior Board of YWCA is responsible for initiatives involving homeless children and families in Birmingham.

Harris also serves as vice president and president-elect of the Birmingham chapter of the National Association of Women in Construction (NAWIC), where she is working to create a program between NAWIC and YWCA that will allow construction companies to participate in a YWCA job training program to provide homeless adults the opportunity to explore careers in the construction industry. Separately, through NAWIC, Ms. Harris participates in an outreach program with a local elementary school designed to increase interest in construction industry careers among students, particularly minority students.

At Bradley, Harris is an associate in the Construction Practice Group and represents EPC contractors, general contractors, and subcontractors on a variety of projects — from condominium towers and retail centers to water treatment plants and utility-scale solar farms — locally, nationally, and abroad. Throughout her practice, she has assisted in claim preparation and defense of government contracts, tailored contracts to meet the needs of specialty contractors, and defended a wide range of matters, including breach of contract, breach of warranty, and complex fraud claims.

Bradley was named the nation’s “Law Firm of the Year” for Construction Law in the 2020 and 2018 editions of U.S. News & World Report – Best Lawyers “Best Law Firms.” The award is particularly significant since only one law firm in the United States per legal practice area receives this recognition each year. Attorneys in the firm’s Construction Practice Group counsel clients on projects in the United States, Canada and Mexico, as well as more than 35 countries across Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, the Middle East, the Caribbean, and South America. Many of the firm’s construction attorneys have degrees in engineering, building science or architecture and have previous practical experience working in the construction industry.

About Bradley
Bradley combines skilled legal counsel with exceptional client service and unwavering integrity to assist a diverse range of corporate and individual clients in achieving their business goals. With offices in Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and the District of Columbia, the firm’s nearly 550 lawyers represent regional, national and international clients in various industries, including banking and financial services, construction, energy, healthcare, life sciences, manufacturing, real estate, and technology, among many others.

Join SCCE September 14-16 for our first ever virtual Compliance & Ethics Institute. Hear from industry professionals on emerging trends and hot topics with 100+ sessions across 11 subject areas. New lower pricing available!

Don’t Miss these General Sessions:

Lessons Learned from the COVID-19 Pandemic
COVID-19 Panel – Justin Ross, Blair Marks,
Art Weiss, Adam Turteltaub
Experienced compliance professionals share lessons learned from the pandemic and how to strengthen compliance programs for a post-pandemic world.

Fraud Is Not a Trade Secret: A Conversation
with Tyler Shultz
Tyler Shultz and Rebecca Jarvis
Hear directly from the whistleblower who helped expose Theranos, and gain insight into what to watch out for in your own organization.

Why We Act: Turning Bystanders into
Moral Rebels
Catherine Sanderson
Learn why so many people standby when they
see wrongdoing and what it takes to get them to come forward.

Fostering a Culture of Compliance
Culture Panel – Tiffany Archer, Susan Roberts, Adelle Elia, Jacki Cheslow
Culture is crucial for compliance success, but with workers at home new challenges abound. Learn how compliance and culture experts are meeting this challenge.

Additional registration discounts apply for SCCE & HCCA members. Group discounts are also available.

Register now.

DALLAS — Signify Health, a leading provider of technology-enabled healthcare solutions designed to keep people healthy and happy at home, has appointed Taj Clayton, Partner and Chair of the Domestic Alternative Dispute Resolution practice at Winston & Strawn LLP, to its Board of Directors.

A founding partner of the Dallas office of Winston & Strawn,  Clayton chairs the firm’s Domestic Alternative Dispute Resolution Practice and co-chairs the Global Black Lawyers’ Network. He also is an Executive Advisor to New Mountain Capital.

Prior to joining Winston & Strawn, Clayton was a principal in the Dallas office of another international firm and was a law clerk to Chief Judge Mark L. Wolf of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts (2005–2006). Clayton is active in the nonprofit sector including serving on the President’s Advisory Board for UT Southwestern Medical Center.

Also appointed to the board was Vivian Riefberg, former Leader of McKinsey & Company’s America’s public sector practice and past co-leader of the U.S. healthcare practice.

After spending more than 30 years at McKinsey & Company, most recently as Senior Partner, Vivian Riefberg joined the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business faculty to hold a David C. Walentas Jefferson Scholars Foundation Professorship chair. Riefberg has worked with many major health care enterprises and nonprofits and served on the boards for the National Institutes of Health and the Partnership for a Healthier America, a nonpartisan program grown out of former First Lady Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” campaign. In addition to serving on Signify Health’s board, Riefberg has also recently joined the Johns Hopkins Medicine board of trustees.

About Signify Health

Signify Health is a leading provider of technology-enabled healthcare solutions designed to keep people healthy and happy at home. We are accelerating the movement to value-based care by working with payers and providers to address both the financing and delivery of care, and sharing accountability for driving better outcomes for the individuals and families we serve. Our innovative episodes of care payment models and personalized health assessment and care coordination services enable us to close clinical and social care gaps, manage risk and drive a better experience for millions of people each year. Applying powerful analytics and clinical expertise, we support individuals’ health journeys from the acute care facility to the ideal next site of care and all the way to a place of residence, helping people get home sooner and stay there longer. We support care needs anywhere in the U.S. through our high-performance provider and community networks – including the nation’s largest field-based network of doctors and nurse practitioners trained and ready for in-home visits. For more information on how we are taking health homeward, visit us at signifyhealth.com.

Courtney E. Murphy has joined the U.S. law firm of Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP as a partner in the global Insurance Services Practice Group in the New York office. Murphy’s primary focus is on evaluating, litigating, and arbitrating all aspects of complex first party property and liability insurance coverage disputes.

Murphy has a national practice with significant experience in handling insurance claims involving catastrophic loss and damage, as well as associated business income loss related to hurricanes, tornados, hail, flooding, fire and other natural disasters. She also serves as a trusted advisor in matters pertaining to boiler/machinery and builders’ risk claims. In addition, Murphy has handled several large losses involving complex geotechnical issues which can often be relevant in claims arising from faulty design, materials or construction practices. She has also served as an arbitrator in large loss arbitrations.

Hinshaw has a strategic alliance with the London-based law firm of Reynolds Porter Chamberlain LLP (RPC), creating a cross-border platform to deliver legal services to insurers. RPC has more than 300 lawyers situated in London, Hong Kong, Bristol and Singapore.

Murphy formerly was a shareholder at Clausen Miller and began her legal career working at Skadden Arps. She received a B.A. from Fordham University and a J.D. from The New York Law School. While earning her law degree, she worked for the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office and the United State Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York in the Major Crime Bureau.

###

Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP is a U.S. based law firm with offices in 13 states and London. The firm’s national reputation spans the insurance industry, the professional services sector—including representation of law firms and lawyers—and other highly regulated industries, such as banking and finance and the debt collection sector. Hinshaw also provides a series of closely coordinated litigation, business advisory and transactional services to clients of all sizes as well as governmental and public sector entities.

“Chubb announced … that Gina Rebollar has been named Deputy General Counsel, Global Corporate Affairs. Ms. Rebollar will lead the company’s global corporate affairs team with responsibility for legal matters related to global corporate, corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions, asset management and intellectual property. She will work closely with Chubb Limited’s Board of Directors and advise the company’s Corporate Development, Treasury, Human Resources and Global Communications functions as well as other members of senior management on various matters,” reports Chubb in their News Releases.

“Ms. Rebollar rejoins Chubb from Clever Leaves, where she served as general counsel for the past year. From 2011 to 2019, Ms. Rebollar served as Senior Vice President and Managing Counsel, Global Corporate Affairs at Chubb. Ms. Rebollar is based in New York and reports to Joe Wayland, Executive Vice President, Chubb Group and General Counsel. The appointment is effective immediately.”

Read the article.

“Bayer is asking a California appeals court to trim $4 million from the amount of money it owes a California groundskeeper struggling to survive cancer that a trial court found was caused by the man’s exposure to Monsanto’s Roundup herbicides,” reports Carey Gillam in U.S. Right to Know.

“In a ‘petition for rehearing’ filed Monday with the Court of Appeal for the First Appellate District of California, lawyers for Monsanto and its German owner Bayer AG asked the court to cut from $20.5 million to $16.5 million the damages awarded to Dewayne ‘Lee’ Johnson.”

“The appeals court ‘reached an erroneous decision based on a mistake of law,’ according to the filing by Monsanto. The issue turns on how long Johnson is expected to live. Because evidence at trial found Johnson was expected to live “no more than two years,” he should not receive money for future pain and suffering allocated for any longer than two years – despite the fact that he continues to outlive predictions, the company argues.”

Read the article.

“The attorney general of New York took action Thursday to dissolve the National Rifle Association following an 18-month investigation that found evidence the powerful gun rights group is ‘fraught with fraud and abuse,'” reports Tim Mak in NPR’s Investigations.

“Attorney General Letitia James claims in a lawsuit filed Thursday that she found financial misconduct in the millions of dollars and that it contributed to a loss of more than $64 million over a three-year period.”

“The suit alleges that top NRA executives misused charitable funds for personal gain, awarded contracts to friends and family members, and provided contracts to former employees to ensure loyalty.”

Read the article.

“A lawsuit has accused Reed Smith of wrongly firing a lawyer after a ‘discriminatory chain of perceptions and events’ stemming from a concussion that the lawyer received while on vacation,” reports Debra Cassens Weiss in ABA Journal’s News.

“The lawsuit by former of counsel Aaron Chase, filed Wednesday in the Southern District of New York, alleges unlawful retaliation and disability discrimination by Reed Smith.”

“Chase says he received the concussion when he hit his head hard on the frame of a vehicle that he was entering while on vacation in September 2019. He returned to work the same month and informed his direct supervisor, partner Jennifer Achilles, about the injury soon afterward.”

Read the article.

Nancy Kim writes in ContractsProf Blog about university liability waivers and how they seem to be very different from regular liability waivers.

“First, they are presented in a conspicuous way and require a much more deliberate act of consent (it’s not simply a click to a link that nobody reads). The wording is clear and the student has to do something conscious that takes time, such as inputting their student ID number. The language does not mess around about the legal effect of the “manifestation,” unlike the typical wrap contract where users click without even knowing what they are doing. The students also have a choice – I think all universities that are planning to open are allowing their students to opt-out and study from home. (If not, then the waivers are coercive, IMHO). In other words, students don’t have to sign them if they want to stay enrolled and continue their studies.”

Read the article.

“… the enforceability of restrictive covenants often depends on which state’s law applies to the dispute. For example, California is well known for refusing to enforce employee non-competition agreements and, recently, refusing to honor forum selection clauses in agreements with California employees without the employee first receiving legal advice. In contrast, with limited exceptions, most other states will generally enforce restrictive covenants. Consequently, for employers, controlling and choosing the correct law to apply to its restrictive covenant agreements can be critical to protection of its business interests,” writes Marcus Mintz, Jeremy Cohen and Erik Weibust in Seyfarth’s News & Insights.

“In a recent dispute between an Ohio employer and a California-based employee, the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the enforcement of a non-competition covenant over the employee’s objection … The employee appealed the district court’s application of Ohio law because of ‘California’s hostility towards covenants not to compete.’ … In reaching its decision to affirm the lower court’s application of Ohio law, the 6th Circuit conducted a choice-of-law analysis and held that because the agreement contained an express choice-of-law provision, the court needed only to examine whether California, the employee’s home state, has a ‘materially-greater-interest’ in the dispute than Ohio … Applying its own precedent, the 6th Circuit held that while ‘California has a meaningful interest in protecting its resident from Down-Lite’s desire to restrict competitive conduct,’ such interest was not ‘materially greater than Ohio’s interest in protecting one of its closely held businesses operating in the global economy.”

Read the article.

“A court may not refuse to enforce contractual terms on the basis that the enforcement would, in its subjective view, be unfair, unreasonable or unduly harsh. It is only where a contractual term or its enforcement is so unfair, unreasonable or unjust that it is contrary to public policy that a court may refuse to enforce it. The public policy considerations are informed by the wide range of constitutional values,” writes Donald Dinnie in Norton Rose Fulbright’s Insurance.

“Courts do not make decisions about the enforcement of contractual provisions on the basis of abstract considerations of good faith, reasonableness or fairness. They do so on the basis of established legal rules. Good faith, reasonableness and fairness form the basis of our law but are not themselves, legal rules.”

“The Constitutional Court in Barkhuizen said that, while public policy imports notions of fairness, justice and reasonableness into our law, parties are generally required to honour contractual obligations that they have freely and voluntarily undertaken.”

Read the article.

“Massachusetts is expected to pass clean energy and climate legislation in the coming months that would require the state to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, dividing conservative groups and environmentalists in atypical ways,” reports David Iaconangelo in E&E News.

“The state House and Senate, which are both controlled by Democrats, have yet to agree on final language. But both chambers have passed bills backing the net-zero goal, and Republican Gov. Charlie Baker has declared that his administration is planning to meet it.”

“If enacted, the law would place Massachusetts among a handful of states requiring a carbon-neutral economy by midcentury.”

Read the article.

Greensfelder, Hemker & Gale, P.C., is pleased to announce that O. Koplan Nwabuoku has joined the firm’s Chicago office as an associate in the Litigation practice group.

Nwabuoku has managed cases from inception to resolution in federal and state courts. His experience includes complex commercial litigation disputes, defending officers and directors in dissociative litigation, employment torts, probate litigation, and disputes over restrictive covenants, among other areas.

Prior to joining Greensfelder, Nwabuoku was an associate at Chuhak & Tecson, P.C.

Nwabuoku received his J.D. from Chicago-Kent College of Law at the Illinois Institute of Technology and his Bachelor of Arts from Tulane University.

Greensfelder, Hemker & Gale, P.C., founded in 1895, is a full-service law firm with offices in St. Louis, Chicago and Southern Illinois. Greensfelder offers comprehensive legal solutions for clients locally, nationally and internationally. Areas of practice include business services; communications and media; construction; educational, religious and tax-exempt organizations; employee benefits; employment and labor; energy; franchising and distribution; health care; intellectual property; litigation; real estate; securities and financial services; and trusts and estates. Find out more at www.greensfelder.com.

Venable LLP is pleased to announce that D. Reed Freeman Jr. has joined the firm as a partner in the eCommerce, Privacy, and Cybersecurity Practice in the Washington, DC office. Freeman’s practice is focused on privacy, cybersecurity, and the privacy aspects of advertising online, on mobile devices, in social media, and on connected devices.

Freeman has extensive experience defending clients in FTC and state consumer protection investigations and data breach responses. He also counsels clients on compliance with FTC and state trade regulations and state privacy and data security laws, including counseling on compliance with California’s Privacy Protection Act (CCPA), privacy and data security compliance around the globe, and advertising and privacy self-regulatory codes. In addition to developing globally compliant privacy policies and programs, Freeman assists clients in M&A privacy work; in contract negotiations, including between publishers and advertisers; and in connection with applications for membership in industry trade groups. He also represents clients in false advertising disputes before the National Advertising Division (NAD) of the Council of Better Business Bureaus, Inc. (CBBB) and the National Advertising Review Board (NARB). Prior to joining Venable, Freeman served as the co-chair of the cybersecurity and privacy and big data practices at an international law firm. He previously worked in the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection as a staff attorney, and as chief privacy officer and vice president for legislative and regulatory affairs for an online advertising software company.

Freeman received his J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1993, and his B.A. in History from the University of Richmond in 1990.

Venable LLP is an American Lawyer Global 100 law firm headquartered in Washington, DC that serves as primary counsel to a worldwide clientele of large and mid-sized organizations, nonprofits, high-net-worth entrepreneurs, and other individuals. With more than 850 professionals across the country, including California, Delaware, Maryland, New York, Virginia, and Washington, DC, the firm strategically advances its clients’ objectives in the U.S. and around the globe. Venable, which is celebrating its 120th anniversary, advises clients on a broad range of business and regulatory law, legislative affairs, complex litigation, and the full range of intellectual property disciplines. For more information, please visit https://www.venable.com.

ATLANTA – Chamberlain Hrdlicka is pleased to announce the addition of Atlanta-based associates Nicolas Bohorquez and Nicholas Monterosso. Bohorquez joins the Real Estate Practice Group, working closely with commercial real estate developers to move a project from concept to reality, while also collaborating with the Construction Law Practice Group to assist owners in all aspects of a project. Monterosso joins the Trust & Estates Practice Group, counseling private wealth clients to establish estate and business succession plans that reflect both personal and business goals.

Bohorquez advises, negotiates and drafts real estate agreements for property development and operations, including easement agreements, lease agreements, estoppel certificates and construction contracts. He also guides clients in the approval process for land use matters. Bohorquez has collaborated with government officials to achieve strategic land use and zoning objectives. He served as lead counsel in a highly publicized Atlanta Beltline real estate matter, involving multi-party real estate litigation of federal and state law claims concerning ownership interests in railroad-line assets.

Bohorquez earned his undergraduate degree from Kennesaw State University and his law degree from Mercer University Walter F. George School of Law.

Monterosso brings more than five years of estate planning experience. He has counseled clients, as well as their accountants, financial planners and family business office managers. Monterosso resolves complex estate planning issues involving blended families, disinherited children and special needs trusts. He is actively involved in the Wills for Veterans program, which provides estate planning services to veterans.

Monterosso earned his undergraduate degree from Oakland University, his law degree from University of Michigan Law School and his Master of Laws in Taxation from the University of Florida Levin College of Law.

About Chamberlain Hrdlicka
Chamberlain Hrdlicka is a diversified business law firm with offices in Atlanta, Houston, Philadelphia and San Antonio. The firm represents both public and private companies, as well as individuals and family-owned businesses across the nation. The firm offers counsel in tax planning and tax controversy, corporate, securities and finance, employment law and employee benefits, energy law, estate planning and administration, intellectual property, international and immigration law, commercial and business litigation, real estate and construction law.

###

Business and entertainment litigation firm adds partners in Texas, Tennessee

DALLAS – Shackelford, Bowen, McKinley & Norton, LLP has added four attorneys in its Texas and Tennessee offices, bolstering its entertainment and construction litigation and transactional practices.

Joining the firm’s Nashville office is entertainment transactional partner Christian Barker. Commercial/construction litigation partner Matt Motes and associate Bryan Kelly join the Fort Worth office, and transactional associate Jackie Wilhite joins in Houston. The additions are just the latest for Shackelford. In July, the firm added a total of eight intellectual property, M&A, commercial litigation, and transactional attorneys in Dallas and Houston.

Barker represents artists, songwriters, producers, independent record labels, independent music publishing companies, and boutique artist management companies nationwide. He also has experience in family law matters involving disputed intellectual property assets. He is the immediate past president of the Tennessee Bar Association’s Young Lawyers Division. He joins Shackelford from Lewis Thomason.

Motes represents general contractors, builders, subcontractors, developers, suppliers, and owners in real estate and construction litigation. He is a former chair of the Tarrant County Bar Association Construction Law Section and is a member of the National Association of Home Builders, Texas Association of Builders, and the Greater Fort Worth Builders Association. He joins the firm from Decker Jones.

Kelly’s construction practice touches all areas of construction law from commercial entities to single-family and large, multifamily residential project clients. He joins Shackelford from Decker Jones.

Wilhite joins the firm from Baker Donelson. Her practice involves contract negotiation in the commercial and non-profit sector involving compliance/ethics, bankruptcy, foreclosures, and employment law.

Shackelford, Bowen, McKinley & Norton, LLP is a general business, aviation and entertainment law firm with attorneys and offices in Dallas, Houston, Frisco, Fort Worth, and Austin, Texas; Nashville, Tennessee; and Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Learn more about the firm at shackelford.law.

The Big Five Personality Factors are a well-researched and effective framework to examine normal personality functioning. The core Big Five factors are:

• Introversion (high to low)
• Openness to New Experiences (high to low)
• Agreeableness (high to low low)
• Neuroticism-Creativity (high to low)
• Conscientiousness (high to low)

In this article, we will focus on how hiring authorities can use the Big Five Personality Factors as a framework for hiring.

Openness to New Ideas

Of course, Conscientiousness as THE most important personality factor to consider when making hiring decisions in law.

It is rare to find an experienced GC who cannot come up with at least one horror story involving hiring a candidate with excellent academic credentials, great job interview skills, and low conscientiousness.

Why does this happen?

Employers assume that the U.S. education system weeds out students who are low on conscientiousness.

That assumption may not be valid. You can be highly intelligent from an IQ perspective yet low on conscientiousness. There are pressures on professors to pass students and pressures on administrators to reduce student drop-out rate.

In this article we want to focus on what we consider to be the second most important Big Five personality trait when GCs hire legal staff: Openness to New Ideas.

Use LinkedIn Before the Candidate Meeting.

Before meeting a candidate for the first time, is it possible to speak with people you know who might know the person? LinkedIn is an excellent resource for identifying such people.

Below is a suggested question:

“On a scale of 0 (never) to 10 (always), give me a number that reflects how open this person is to new ideas?”

Once a number is given, ask the person to explain why that number was assigned.
Before meeting the candidate, do a Google search to find out if the candidate writes blogs. Do the topics focus on expansion, growth, and new ideas? That suggests high openness to new ideas.

Perhaps the blogs focus on reduction of risk/uncertainty. That might suggest low openness to new ideas.

Structuring the Employment Interview

The following interview questions will help confirm a candidate’s openness to new ideas:

“Tell me a story about a time when you questioned the commonly accepted wisdom at your company or team?”

Since we are dealing with personality factors, it is acceptable if the person does not use a business example. Stories about sports or family are fine.

Candidates high on openness to new ideas will resonate when your interview resonates with words like “growth,” “innovation,” “new,” and “exciting.”

Suppose You Want Low Openness to New Ideas

A general company culture may be one of growth and transformation, yet you may still seek to hire legal professionals who are relatively closed to new ideas.

These are people who resonate with words like “consistency,” “reliability,” and “predictability:”

Compliance Officer within a hedge fund
Completion of SEC regulatory filings.
Patent applications.

Below is a question you might ask during the employment interview:

“Tell me a story about a situation that began in chaos, but you helped it become orderly.”

They will resonate to words like “stabilize,” “control,” “predict,” “measure,” “consistency.”

If your candidate is relatively closed to new ideas and you are relatively open to new ideas, there is going to be a conflict. Focus more on the requirements of the job. Make personality compatibility a secondary consideration.

Another option for GCs who score high on openness to new ideas: surround your legal team with people who also are open to new ideas. Outsource the more compliance-oriented issues to attorneys who love to wade into the administrative details.

GCs should consider the “Brand” that the GC has with the CEO. If the CEO considers the GC “Dr. No” and considers the legal department as the place where “good idea go to die,” then it might be prudent for the GC to surround herself with attorneys high on openness to new ideas.

Summary and Conclusions

The Big Five Personality Factor framework as a well-researched framework to look at personality factors of high functioning “normal” adults.

General Counsels make a mistake in placing too much emphasis on hiring people with certain academic credentials or years of relevant industry experience. This emphasis often comes at the expense of not paying enough attention on personality/culture fit.
In ninety days most lawyers will learn enough about your industry to do the job at a fully competent level.

Skills can be learned.

It is far more effective to hire the right personality type at the front end than to hire the wrong personality type and spend time/money trying to change it.

References

S.G. Matz, M. Kosinski, G. Nave and D. J. Stillwell. 2017 “Psychological targeting as an effective approach to digital mass persuasion.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, http://www.pnas.org/content/pnas/early/2017/11/07/1710966114.full.pdf

Stybel, L. and Peabody, M. 2018. “Attention Job Candidates and Recruiters: your most important question.” https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/platform-success/201805/attentio…

**
Stybel Peabody provides companies with “leadership and career success” for valued senior level talent. Core services include retained search, leadership development coaching, and executive-level outplacement.

The readers of Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly voted Stybel Peabody Associates “The Best Outplacement Firm” of 2020.

lstybel@stybelpeabody.com