TheCorporateCounsel.net

General counsels spend a lot of time in the board room, and many of them – and a lot of other lawyers who advise boards – would like to serve on corporate boards themselves.  If you’re one of those people, then this Barker Gilmore blog has some advice for you about how to stand out from the crowd of potential candidates for board seats. I mentioned in a prior blog that the Barker Gilmore folks are from my hometown of Fairport, NY, which reminds me that if you’re interested in finding out how to make the transition from lawyer to public company director & CEO, there’s another Fairport native you could speak with – my brother Jim.

Members of DealLawyers.com may recall that Jim was my first guest on our “Deal Lawyers Download” podcast series, where we discussed, among other things, how he transitioned from law firm partner to GC & Chief Development Officer at a NYSE-listed company.  Well, fast forward a couple of years, and Nasdaq’s pumping this video message into Times Square:

Yeah, the guy somehow ended up being appointed Chairman, President & CEO of a public company.  This is very typical – I’m the oldest of three brothers, and we’ve always been very competitive with each other, so one-upmanship is a family tradition. For example, when we played high school football, I was All-League, Jim was All-Region, and my youngest brother, Jason, was All-State. So, naturally, when Liz opted to head back to Fredrikson full time & I became managing editor because I was the only full-time editor left, Jim just had to one up me. What about Jason? Well, he’s been the COO of a large private company for several years, so he one-upped me long ago, and I’m sure he has his sights set on Jim. Jason was All-Ivy League in college, so I like his odds.

– John Jenkins