This is actually the hardest part for lawyers transitioning from law firm or government life to in-house counsel roles. Those other experiences train you that being “right” is the most important thing. Being in-house counsel, you learn that outcomes are the most important.
This isn’t to say that in-house counsel need to enable law breaking or non-compliance. It’s about navigating the grey.
Law firm and government lawyers tend to be trained and rewarded for strong arming their audience. But if you do that repeatedly as in-house counsel, you lose your credibility and people try to work around you.
Sean Ruff (now at MoFo.com) had a good saying on this when we were at Square. He talked about having a “hard no.”
We had to enable the business teams, but every now than then use the “hard no” when the teams wanted to do something that was non-compliant.
You had to use your “hard no” judiciously. And it worked best if you had built credibility by suggesting alternative paths to enable the team’s desired outcome.
If you’re a founder or exec and need to hire an in-house lawyer, make sure you ask them about their philosophy on when it’s appropriate to tell a business team “no.” Ask them for examples of when they wanted to say no, but ultimately found a path to yes instead.
Then listen carefully to see if they give you actual examples or philosophical jargon. Don’t hire the lawyer that slings jargon. They won”t get it yet and will be counterproductive to your efforts.
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2/ First some background. Synchrony Financial, who issues the Venmo credit card, was issued an approval order for a novel credit card product.
3/ (My former colleagues should pay attention, as some frequently mis-use the term "secured credit")
Synchrony wants to offer cards that start as secured credit. Cardholders can then graduate to an unsecured credit card account after 12 months of good payment history/use.
1/ Today the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) issued an advisory opinion about earned wage access products. If you’ve wondered what the legal skinny is on Dave, Earnin, Even and all the others -- this thread is for you.
2/ But first a word about Privacy.com. The safest and easiest way to shop online. Holiday deals are here :) So are hackers :(
Keep your bank card safe. Use Privacy cards instead. Free to use, easy to sign up.
And neobank builders will love our APIs and docs.
3/ Back to earned wage access.
Lots of FinTech cos will give you early access to your wages. Some front ACH while the credit clears. Others give you money by the day, up to several times a month.
1/ Am listening to the CFPB's consumer advisory committee meeting discussion on the Section 1033 consumer info sharing rule making and current market trends. Some notes and thoughts here.
2/ All the long-time Bureau folks seem to be here. Will Wade-Grey presented. Gary Stein is talking now. David Erich, an operator/founder/thought leader on the advisory committee is dialed in. 36 panelists in total. Other attendees listening in are hidden.
3/ For context, Section 1033 of the Dodd Frank Act lets the CFPB write rules to create an open banking regime. There's an open comment period right now. I plan on doing a deep dive in the next week or so and will likely write a comment letter in my capacity as a private citizen.
1/ Lots of interesting nuggets on the PayPal earnings call. And Dan Shulman saying "regulators" four times in his opening remarks. Thread following here later tonight (Pacific time).
2/ pre-thread nugget -- after-hours trading going lower the more Dan Schulman and John Rainey talk about Q4 and dodge on 2021 forecasting. Was -$10 a share a few minutes ago. Rainey continues to take Q4 and 2021 forecast questions, and stock going lower (down $12 a share).
3/ @PolicyPitts - you doom scrolling late on the East Coast? Cause I'm back and a tweeting about the @PayPal earnings call.