Sixteen years is an eternity in Silicon Valley. Blake Lawit is stepping back as LinkedIn’s chief global affairs and legal officer, moving to an advisory role before leaving at year end. His successor, Henry Fong, becomes the new LinkedIn chief legal officer. So the job stays in the family. Fong joined in 2014 to run employment law and climbed to vice president of enterprise legal affairs.
Two lessons for anyone plotting a route to becoming a general counsel. Long tenure still pays at the top. And a specialist can end up running the whole show; Fong’s start was employment law, which rarely gets called the fast track. Lawit himself started as a director of legal. Patience, it turns out, is a career strategy. Impatient types can always browse General Counsel jobs.
“Lawit first joined LinkedIn in 2010 as director of legal before progressing up the ranks to senior director, vice president, SVP and general counsel, most recently working as chief global affairs and legal officer.”
Read: People moves: Blake Lawit to be succeeded by Henry Fong at LinkedIn at Governance Intelligence