Only the "squeaky clean" need apply:

"The latest corporate scandals that forced out general counsel from several of the world’s biggest tech companies have stuck their legal departments with a leadership vacuum.

These companies — Hewlett-Packard, McAfee and KLA-Tencor, to name a few — are without a doubt trying to fill those crucial positions. And whoever steps into the shoes of their GCs will have to be superheroes among attorneys, said Silicon Valley recruiter Carl Baier.

"They obviously need someone who is squeaky clean," he said. "I don’t think they can afford to have another embarrassing situation. Especially for high-profile, large public companies, icons of Silicon Valley."

Link: Silicon Valley Companies Looking for a Few Good GCs.

If you’re in-house counsel to a Silicon Valley tech company, you may not know that you’ve been taking some lumps lately - head over to the WSJ blog to read a recent post and the resulting comments - you may want to chime in:

"Hewlett-Packard’s board-leak investigation and the backdating of stock options are shining a light on the role of in-house lawyers at Silicon Valley technology companies. And a story in today’s WSJ asks whether general counsels at technology companies sometimes lack the respect the position commands elsewhere."

Link: Law Blog � In-Housers in Silicon Valley: Ignored and Overlooked?.