by Austen L. Parrish

The need for talented in-house lawyers has never been greater. In recent years, the ranks of in-house counsel have swelled. A September report from the Association of Corporate Counsel found that the growth of in-house counsel has significantly outpaced the expansion of lawyers working in law firms and government positions, noting that “the rise of in-house counsel has been especially sharp since 2021.” That’s particularly true in Southern California, with Orange County being home to not only a range of innovative start-ups, but some of nation’s largest corporations in the technology, life sciences, and finance areas, among others, creating complex legal needs for in-house teams.

UC Irvine School of Law is starting a new program to support the growing in-house legal landscape. It has partnered with UC Irvine’s Division of Continuing Education to launch an innovative online certificate program designed to help lawyers transition to in-house roles, while gaining the knowledge and tools to be effective leaders in in-house corporate departments. The fifteen-week online program will offer California MCLE credits, including specialty credits such as ethics. The inaugural set of online classes will begin this coming year. The website for the new program will go live in the spring, with registration soon after.

The new certificate program (From Lawyer to Leader: The Road to the GC Seat) is designed for attorneys wanting to take the next step in their careers. Lisa Hatton Harrington, who will teach in the Lawyer to Leader certificate program, is overseeing its development. Lisa brings a wealth of in-house, private law firm, and board experience. She most recently served as Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary for Viant Technology, a publicly traded advertising software company with headquarters in Irvine; as General Counsel, Corporate Secretary, and a Board Director for Niagen BioScience, a publicly traded consumer products company; and as General Counsel of Irvine-based ASICS Americas. She has also lectured for several years on Corporate Governance and on Executive Presence and Leadership Development for the Wharton School of Business’s executive education program.

We have been fortunate to be advised by so many leaders in the Orange County legal community who see a need for this kind of sophisticated, advanced training. Some of the advice and early initiative came from members of the law school’s Board of Visitors, including people like Augusto Aragone (Executive Vice President, Secretary, and General Counsel Ingram Micro, Inc.), Mary Carrington (former Senior Vice President and General Counsel Filenet Corp.), Arnie Pinkston (former Corporate Vice President and General Counsel, Edwards Lifesciences), and Peter Zeughauser (former Senior Vice President and General Counsel, The Irvine Company), among others. The certificate program has its own advisory board, which includes Clay Halvorsen (former Senior Vice President and General Counsel, The Irvine Company), John Page (Senior Corporate Vice President, Chief Corporate Social Responsibility and Legal Officer, Golden State Foods Corp.), Mark Peterson (Corporate Vice President and General Counsel, Edwards Lifesciences), Joe Schohl (Chair and Founder of General Counsel West, and the Founder and Head Coach of Inside Counsel Academy), and Deborah G. Solmor (General Counsel at the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, Founder of Ready Set GC, and previously General Counsel & Corporate Secretary at TCS Education System). And we’re proud of our trailblazing UC Irvine law graduates who are serving with distinction in in-house roles.

The program has kept in mind the flexibility needed for busy working professionals. Instruction will be delivered online through live synchronous sessions (45-75 minutes each week). Participants will have the opportunity to complete modules on the essential functions of in-house legal practice; leadership in the corporate environment and running a legal department like a business; the foundations of in-house counsel practice; accounting and financial literacy for aspiring general counsels; and compliance and ethics for in-house counsel. At the end of the course, the participants will have an opportunity for an in-person networking session at UCI Law School with the advisory board and the instructors.

An exceptional group of inaugural faculty will teach in the program. All have extensive and first-hand experience and understand the challenges facing today’s in-house legal leaders. Lisa Hatton Harrington will be joined by four others, including Liz Atlee, who for over fourteen years served as Senior Vice President and Chief Ethics and Compliance officer at CBRE; Stacy Bratcher, who is the Senior Vice President and Chief Legal Officer of Cottage Health and former General Counsel of USC; Peter MacDonald, who served as Executive Vice President, Secretary, and General Counsel of loanDepot, Inc.; and Rick Rayson who for forty years was with Deloitte, serving as a managing partner.

UC Irvine School of Law was founded as an innovative law school, whose founders saw the school as integrally connected to the local legal community. I’m pleased the law school is taking this next step to help lawyers make the transition to in-house positions, to support future GCs, and to respond to the growth of in-house counsel and its changing landscape in Orange County and beyond. We’re looking forward to welcoming an inaugural class to our new certificate program.

Austen L. Parrish is Dean and Chancellor’s Professor of Law at the University of California, Irvine School of Law.