Much of the recent discussion over the changes buffeting the legal profession at the moment focuses on the shift in power from large law firms to in-house corporate legal departments. The in-house bar has grown significantly in both size and stature over the past decade and the needs of the corporate legal department have galvanized changes throughout the profession. But so far, little has been said on the possible impact of this shift on legal education. Are there substantive changes that should be made to legal education to better capture the new dynamic of the corporate law practice? What should the role of the in-house bar be in the ongoing debate of the education and training of young lawyers? Does the in-house bar have a professional duty to engage in the education, training, and development of young lawyers more than it traditionally has? The Stanford Center on the Legal Profession is pleased to welcome the general counsel of Cisco, Twitter, HP, and Facebook to examine these and other questions in this panel discussion. Moderated by SLS Professor and Associate Dean for Strategic Planning George Triantis.

Please click here to register for this event.

Food will be served.

Speakers:

Mark Chandler, Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary, and Chief Compliance Officer, Cisco

Mark Chandler is Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary, and Chief Compliance Officer, of Cisco, where he manages a team of 450 professionals, including legal, employee relations, ethics, investigations and brand protection teams. Previously, he was Managing Attorney for the Europe, Middle East and Africa region, based in Paris. Chandler joined Cisco in 1996 upon the acquisition of StrataCom, Inc., where he had been general counsel. Prior to working at StrataCom he worked for six years as vice president for corporate development and general counsel of Maxtor Corporation, a manufacturer of hard disk drives.

Chandler is also a member of the Dean’s Advisory Council of Stanford Law School, the Board of Trustees of Belmont Hill School in Belmont, Massachusetts, the US Department of Commerce Manufacturing Council, and the Advisory Council of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington. He has previously served as member and chairman of the City of Palo Alto Planning Commission, and as a member of the Palo Alto Utilities Advisory Commission. In 2010, The National Law Journal named him one of the 40 Most Influential Lawyers of the Decade and in 2013, American Lawyer numbered him among the “Top 50 Big Law Innovators of the Last 50 Years.”

Chandler holds a bachelor’s degree in economics, summa cum laude (1978) from Harvard College, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, and a juris doctor degree from Stanford Law School (1981).

Vijaya Gadde, General Counsel, Twitter

Vijaya Gadde (VIJ-ee-yah GAD-ee) is Twitter’s General Counsel. She previously served as a Legal Director at Twitter, where she managed the international and corporate legal teams. Prior to joining Twitter in 2011, Vijaya was Senior Director, Legal at Juniper Networks; previously, for nearly a decade, she was an associate at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. While at WSGR, Vijaya acted as counsel to the New York Stock Exchange’s Proxy Working Group and Committee on Corporate Governance.

She earned a J.D. from New York University School of Law and a B.S. in Industrial and Labor Relations from Cornell University. She is @vijaya on Twitter.

John Schultz, Executive Vice President and General Counsel, Hewlett-Packard Company

John Schultz was named Executive Vice President and General Counsel for Hewlett-Packard Company in April 2012.

Prior to his role as General Counsel, John was the Deputy General Counsel for Litigation Investigations and Global Functions where he managed all major litigation filed against HP globally, including all intellectual property, government investigations, and commercial and employment disputes.

Before joining HP in September 2008, Schultz was a partner in the litigation practice of Morgan Lewis focusing on complex litigation, primarily defending consumer class-action, fiduciary liability, and technology-related commercial litigation. He was previously at Drinker Biddle & Reath for 14 years, where he also specialized in commercial and product liability litigation.

Schultz holds a J.D. degree from the University of Pennsylvania Law School and his undergraduate degree from Albright College.

Colin Stretch, Vice President and General Counsel, Facebook

Colin Stretch is Vice President and General Counsel at Facebook. He is a graduate of Dartmouth College and the Harvard Law School. Following law school, he clerked for Judge Laurence Silberman on the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, and, after a stint with the Department of Justice Honors Program, for Associate Justice Stephen Breyer on the United States Supreme Court. Prior to joining Facebook in 2010, Colin was a partner at Kellogg Huber Hansen Todd Evans & Figel in Washington D.C. He lives in San Mateo with his wife and three children.

Related Media