. Forum

[Anonymous User]

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[Bimmerfan]

definitely a strange situation but not completely out of the ordinary.

how long have you been with the company for? seems like it is just temporary and i would just ride it out and see what happens.

and what did you reach out to your former firm with? for a possible return?

[Anonymous User]

Cliffs on my situation:

- recently went inhouse from v10 (corporate) as a 5th yr
- small legal dept: GC, me, another pretty junior attorney, and a non-JD compliance person ("Compliance Bro")
- I met my GC for about an hour on my first day, haven't really talked since
- GC quits for another job after I start
- GC and Compliance Bro are close -- they hang out outside of work (went on a fishing trip, etc.)
- As part of the transition, GC arranges for Compliance Bro to be head of our department, which on the one hand makes sense as Compliance Bro has been with the company longer than anyone else in our department and knows a lot, and is also very smart, but on the other hand, is weird because people are coming to Compliance Bro with legal questions, and I (and the junior attorney) am expected to send legal things to Compliance Bro for sign off until they find a new GC per GC's departure memo
- Even heard someone refer to Compliance Bro as "acting general counsel"
- Compliance Bro is the person attending and taking minutes at board meetings, not me or junior attorney
- To be clear, our GC reported into the CFO, so having a non-JD head not that weird, but having a non-JD be head of our particular legal department, and be in charge of legal sign off, seems really weird
- Also an interesting fact: I'm a woman
- I don't think the GC was doing anything discriminatory towards me, but I do think because GC and Compliance Bro are close, GC wanted to position Compliance Bro upward and fast-track Compliance Bro for a VP position. Otherwise this situation makes no sense to me unless I totally don't get it.
- I have already reached out to former firm because this situation just feels weird

To be clear, it doesn't bother me that Compliance Bro is the head of our legal department. But I do find it weird and kind of dysfunctional to have Compliance Bro have sign off on legal things and to be taking board minutes.

Am I crazy or do I just not understand corporate America?

Really the most interesting part of this is that you're a woman.

[jhett]

Assuming it's temporary, then it's OK that Compliance Bro (CB) is acting general counsel. Before law school I was once acting GC at a start-up during a gap in GC tenure. You and the other attorney have to act like a legal backstop for the time being. For example, briefing CB with all the necessary legal information (which you may not have to do with another attorney) so that CB understands the ramifications of what they are signing off on. Also, you can approach CB and ask if you or the other attorney can take over certain tasks that lawyers usually do, and also keep you updated about the GC search.

Overall though, what's curious about this situation is the lack of communication. It was a legal department of 4 (now 3), so you all should have been communicating with each other frequently and know what's going on. But apparently the GC never really spoke to you and the GC and CB seemed to form a small clique. Additionally, you have turned to this forum for advice rather than just hashing things out with CB yourself, and you didn't even mention anything about the other attorney. The culture is a little off. If I were you, I would push to have a big role in selecting a new GC, someone who can foster a more open culture of communication. And if you just aren't comfortable there, no issue in looking to jump somewhere else.

[Anonymous User]

I feel like a GC has enough not-strictly-legal duties that this makes sense as an interim measure? If you haven’t been there very long it’s not shocking that they’d pick someone who knows the company really well (and whom everyone in the company probably knows).

But then I also don’t see why it would be weird to have a non-lawyer taking board minutes. Signing off on legal stuff, yeah, that could be an issue, though approving an action as a company rep is different from actually taking legal action. It may be I don’t know enough about corporate responsibilities though.

If this just keeps going without any effort to find a new GC it would get weird, I think.

Also the post above this makes good points.

[Anonymous User]

Thanks for all the responses above. It sounds like consensus is that this is not necessarily a red flag given I am brand new, other attorney is junior, and Compliance Bro is both competent and has been here a long time.

With that said, the communication has been terrible and is cause for concern.

Cliffs on my situation:

- recently went inhouse from v10 (corporate) as a 5th yr
- small legal dept: GC, me, another pretty junior attorney, and a non-JD compliance person ("Compliance Bro")
- I met my GC for about an hour on my first day, haven't really talked since
- GC quits for another job after I start
- GC and Compliance Bro are close -- they hang out outside of work (went on a fishing trip, etc.)
- As part of the transition, GC arranges for Compliance Bro to be head of our department, which on the one hand makes sense as Compliance Bro has been with the company longer than anyone else in our department and knows a lot, and is also very smart, but on the other hand, is weird because people are coming to Compliance Bro with legal questions, and I (and the junior attorney) am expected to send legal things to Compliance Bro for sign off until they find a new GC per GC's departure memo
- Even heard someone refer to Compliance Bro as "acting general counsel"
- Compliance Bro is the person attending and taking minutes at board meetings, not me or junior attorney
- To be clear, our GC reported into the CFO, so having a non-JD head not that weird, but having a non-JD be head of our particular legal department, and be in charge of legal sign off, seems really weird
- Also an interesting fact: I'm a woman
- I don't think the GC was doing anything discriminatory towards me, but I do think because GC and Compliance Bro are close, GC wanted to position Compliance Bro upward and fast-track Compliance Bro for a VP position. Otherwise this situation makes no sense to me unless I totally don't get it.
- I have already reached out to former firm because this situation just feels weird

To be clear, it doesn't bother me that Compliance Bro is the head of our legal department. But I do find it weird and kind of dysfunctional to have Compliance Bro have sign off on legal things and to be taking board minutes.

Am I crazy or do I just not understand corporate America?

Really the most interesting part of this is that you're a woman.

I mentioned it because, although I don't think anything was purposefully discriminatory, I do think that there is some element of friends helping friends, and I do think it is a bit of a boys club here despite their "commitment to diversity". I just don't think I have the interest in trying to deal with a boys club.

[ghostoftraynor]

It would be much weirder to make the fifth year lawyer who just started acting GC.

[Buglaw]

It would be much weirder to make the fifth year lawyer who just started acting GC.

Agreed.

[eastcoast_iub]

It would be much weirder to make the fifth year lawyer who just started acting GC.

Agreed.

Thirded. Stop seeing discrimination ghosts, it is an unusual situation but makes more sense to have someone with much more experience at the company serving as acting GC then the new person.

[Anonymous User]

It would be much weirder to make the fifth year lawyer who just started acting GC.

Agreed.

Thirded. Stop seeing discrimination ghosts, it is an unusual situation but makes more sense to have someone with much more experience at the company serving as acting GC then the new person.

OP. Thanks. Not disagreeing with the above at all and not trying to make a play for GC. Situation just seemed weird to me, that is all.

[2013]

You keep saying compliance bro and I’m thinking this is some 23 year old. If that’s the case, that’s a bit strange as well. But based on the fact that he’s been there a while, I’m assuming compliance bro is an actual adult.

[CanadianWolf]

Has your former firm offered to let you return ?

[Anonymous User]

Has your former firm offered to let you return ?

OP here: I haven't let discussion get that far.

To be clear, I like compliance bro and think he is very smart and capable, and I like the job, I just find myself in a weird situation that I would not have expected and wanted to get a read on the situation. Was helpful as it looks like my initial read was a bit neurotic based on responses here - will just do my best to support and ride this out.

[CanadianWolf]

Your concern is understandable as you made a recent switch from a private firm to a small in-house legal group/dept. Too much unexpected uncertainty in a new professional setting. Whether or not a move back to your old firm is warranted will depend in large part upon the individual brought in as the new GC.

Although it may seem a bit trite to suggest that you refrain from characterizing your work situation as "weird", I think that it may be helpful to characterize it as an unexpected period of uncertainty. Personalities matter in a small practice group and there should be legitimate concern regarding how well or how poorly you will get along with your new boss.