A growing number of in-house departments are realising the value of having a government 'insider' hitting for their own team. Whether a mature, established company facing an onslaught of new and ever-changing compliance requirements or a small, emerging start-up operating on the fringes of a heavily regulated space—such as in banking or healthcare—a lawyer who has seen laws and regulations from the other side can be an invaluable asset. It's little wonder, then, that the once anomalous career reroute from public service to in-house counsel is becoming increasingly commonplace, as lawyers leverage their government credentials to win places in the legal departments of some of Silicone Valley's most exciting start-ups.
Safety net
According to legal recruiter Stacey Miller Azcarate, a growing number of clients are beginning to specifically seek candidates with backgrounds in government for in-house positions. 'The best safety net is pulling someone out of government who has experience with creating these laws and who has an inside view of the process,' she commented. However, the value of bringing a former government player extends beyond mere regulatory insight—it can be of enormous value to building and maintaining strong working relationships with government agencies and regulators, Ms Azcarate suggests. 'It's a diplomacy play, it's a PR play and it's an expertise play,' she said.
View from the other side
Square Inc general counsel Dana Wagner spent four years as a trial attorney in the Antitrust Division of the US Department of Justice and three years as an assistant US attorney in the Northern District of California before coming in-house to work for the financial and merchant services start-up in San Francisco. According to Mr Wagner, his experience in government has been invaluable to mapping the legal challenges involved in bringing 'previously unthought of financial products' to the market. Knowing how government lawyers might approach fitting a new business or product within an existing legal framework helps to anticipate compliance needs and risks, he says. 'As a person on the government side, in the antitrust world, we constantly faced that question. So having asked myself those same questions, but from the other side of the equation, is very helpful,' he said.
Emerging trend
Square Inc is just one of a host of companies who have snapped up their legal leaders from the public sector, and not all of them are start-ups. Former state prosecutors and ex-government lawyers can also be found heading legal departments for search engine monolith Google, online retailer Amazon.com, visual social media platform Pintrest and online lender Social Finance Inc. Source: The Recorder
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