• MARY K YOUNG, Partner, Zeughauser Group, Washington D.C.
  Moving the Global Law Firm Through a Challenging Economy: Focus on Strategy
• DAVID SYED, Senior Partner - Europe, Orrick, Paris
  Changing Supply & Demand for Global Legal Services: The Multi-polar Dynamic
• JOHN H. STOUT, Partner, Fredrikson & Byron, Minneapolis
  The Fulfilled International Lawyer: Advice for a Successful Career
• ADAM SMITH, General Counsel, EADS Defence & Security, Munich
  Laws are Local: How Can Corporate Legal Services Become More Global?
• HELENA SAMAHA, General Counsel EMEA, AlixPartners, Paris
  Transcending Legal Expertise to Get to the Heart of Serving Global Clients
• THOMAS J. SABATINO, Jr., Executive Vice President & General Counsel, Schering-Plough Corporation, New Jersey
  Musical Chairs: How Today’s General Counsel Earns a Seat at the Top Executive Table
• NORM RUBENSTEIN, Partner, Zeughauser Group, Washington D.C.
  The Key to Credible International Branding
• JOLENE OVERBECK, Chief Marketing Officer, DLA Piper, New York City
  Moving the Global Law Firm Through a Challenging Economy: Focus on Strategy
• MICHAEL O’NEILL, SVP and General Counsel, Lenovo Corporation, Washington D.C.
  Fit for Global: Operating Tenets for the General Counsel
• MARY MULLALLY, Head of Networks, Practical Law Company, London
  How Corporate Counsel in the UK and Europe are Changing, and the Key Elements of Success
• DEBORAH MCMURRAY, CEO and Strategy Architect, Content Pilot LLC, Dallas
  LAW FIRM 4.0: Considerations for the Global Law Firm in 2020
• CHRIS MARSHALL, Pro Bono & Community Manager, Reed Smith and Chair, Board of Trustees, Advocates for International Development, London
  International Pro Bono – Broadening our Geographical Reach
• BRUCE MacEWEN, Founder, “Adam Smith Esq.,”, New York City
  Re-thinking Your Global Strategy: Geography, Talent and Management
• DESPINA KARTSON, Chief Marketing Officer, Latham & Watkins LLP, New York City
  The Role of Law Firm Values in Successful Global Expansion
• PETER KALIS, Chairman and Global Managing Partner, K&L Gates LLP, New York City
  The Signature Legal Challenge of the 21st Century
• ALAN JENKINS, Chairman, Eversheds LLP, London
  Understanding the Importance of Culture in Managing a Global Law Firm
• FADI HAMMADEH, General Counsel, Dubai Properties Group, Dubai
  The Regulatory Pendulum Worldwide: Where are we Headed?
• ANN LEE GIBSON, Ann Lee Gibson Consulting, West Plains, Missouri
  Feels Like 1990 All Over Again: Law Firm Economic Cycles
• TIM S. GLASSETT, Former General Counsel, Hilton Hotels Corporation, Beverly Hills, CA
  Building and Motivating a High-Performing Global Legal Team
• ROSS FISHMAN, CEO, Fishman Marketing, Highland Park, Illinois
  Focus: The Benefits of a Narrow Scope in the Face of Global Opportunity
• JAN EIJSBOUTS, former General Counsel, Akzo Nobel, Amsterdam
  Foreword
• E. LEIGH DANCE, President, ELD International, Inc., New York and Rome
  Introduction and European Counsel Must Improve Compliance
• BRUNO COVA, Partner, Paul Hastings, Milan
  Reflections on Moving Inside to Outside, and European Counsel Must Improve Compliance
• JEFFREY CARR General Counsel, FMC Technologies, Houston
  Building a Better Legal Service Delivery System
• PETER J. BESHAR EVP and General Counsel, Marsh & McLennan Companies, New York City
  Living Through a Corporate Crisis and Preparing for What Might Come Next
• DEREK BENTON Director of International Operations, Lexis-Nexis Martindale-Hubbell, London
  Lawyers Network Differently as the World Grows Flatter

 

Praise For Bright Ideas

With Bright Ideas: Insights from Legal Luminaries Worldwide, E. Leigh Dance presents 26 essays written by current and past heads of legal at global companies including:  Akzo Nobel, EADS, Fiat, FMC Technologies, Hilton, Honeywell, Lenovo, Marsh & McLennan and Schering-Plough, as well as leaders of global law firms including DLA, Eversheds, K&L Gates, Latham & Watkins, Orrick, Paul Hastings and other top legal industry experts.

Bright Ideas has received critical acclaim across the globe since its launch in May 2009

Al Driver, Editor, The Metropolitan Corporate Counsel:
Bright Ideas -- Insights From Legal Luminaries Worldwide edited by E. Leigh Dance is aptly titled. This is one of the best books I have read for corporate counsel of actual (or aspiring) global corporations – and a fascinating read. I could not put it down until I had read every page.
Leigh probably knows a greater number of the principal actors in the ongoing drama of law department and law firm globalization than anyone else in the world. Her skill as a consultant and presenter of ideas is unique.  The book consists of 26 essays by some of those with whom she has worked. I found each one of great interest. Her great talent is that in each of the essays she has encouraged the author to share his or her secrets of successful globalization with the reader.
We, too, know a number of the authors whose essays are included in the book. We can testify on the basis of personal experience with the authors or their organizations that in each case Leigh has managed to coax from the authors the most important insights (Bright Ideas) they bring to the discussion of globalization. 

John Lipsey, VP Corporate Counsel Services, Lexis Nexis Martindale Hubbell:
I had the pleasure yesterday of attending a book launch event hosted by Leigh Dance, principle of ELD International.  Many of you know Leigh through her global consulting business that helps corporate counsel and legal teams run more efficiently.    
Some of the compelling ideas discussed at the event that can be found in Bright Ideas include:
•         The unsustainable business model that has supported the legal industry is now coming to an end,  and creative new approaches are being born to reflect the changing times
•         GC’s, emerging as business leaders themselves, are driving this change, and the responsive law firms willing to think creatively will win
•         Some of the great new ideas in the new business model won’t come from firms looking at what other firms are doing; rather, leaders will look for new approaches outside the profession to industries known for their quality, service and responsiveness
•         Establishing/maintaining long term relationships and trust will be key to success
•         The need for lean efficiency, certainty and predictability are the key needs of in house legal departments and will determine which new model succeeds or fails

As lawyers, we often self-flagellate, decrying ourselves as luddites and laggards, trailing the other industries in new ways of thinking – stuck in old-world modes of thought and practices. Leigh’s great afternoon session reminded me of something.  Maybe, lawyers’ habits of thinking of ourselves as behind the times – is in fact, an old way of thinking. 

The following authors and chapters from Bright Ideas have been excerpted or reprinted in full in leading legal publications:

Tom Sabatino, Executive Vice President & General Counsel, Schering-Plough Corporation,  “Musical Chairs: How Today's General Counsel Earns a Seat at the Top Executive Table" – ACC Docket, July/August 2009

Jolene Overbeck, Chief Marketing Officer, DLA Piper and Mary K. Young, Partner, Zeughauser Group, “Moving the Global Law Firm Through a Challenging Economy: Focus on Strategy” – Los Angeles & San Francisco Daily Journal, September 2009

Adam Smith, General Counsel, EADS Defence & Security “Laws are Local: How Can Corporate Legal Services Become More Global?” – Legal Week, June 2009

Mike O’Neill, SVP and General Counsel, Lenovo Corporation, “Tenents of a Global GC” – Legal Week, July 2009

Jeff Carr, General Counsel, FMC Technologies, “Building a Better Legal Service Directory System" – Legal Week, September 2009
 

Praise For Bright Ideas: Insights from Legal Luminaries Worldwide

"This collection of 26 impressive essays, skillfully edited by Leigh Dance, creates a superb textbook for leaders as they consider current and future strategies, whether as global law firms or corporate law departments. A unique compendium of global perspectives and ideas, it makes very useful reading for all who are working to chart a course in these unprecedented times."
- Ralph Baxter, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Orrick

“Leigh Dance has managed to replicate in a book the excitement of a rich roundtable discussion among industry leaders. Reading it is like sitting in on an intimate exchange of practical experience, personal insights, and critical thinking about global business law, now and into the future. I highly recommend Bright Ideas.”
– Nino Cusimano, General Counsel, Telecom Italia 

“Jump in, and profit from the many superb ideas and thought-provoking perspectives advanced in these pages, by an outstanding list of legal luminaries.”
– Jan Eijsbouts, former General Counsel, Akzo Nobel

We would love to have your thoughts and comments about Bright Ideas:  Insights from Legal Luminaries Worldwide.  Please send them to Editor E. Leigh Dance, at eldance@eldinternational.com