Lindsay Griffiths is the International Lawyers Network’s Executive Director. She is a dynamic, influential international executive and marketing thought leader with a passion for relationship development and authoring impactful content. Griffiths is a driven, strategic leader who implements creative initiatives to achieve the goals of a global professional services network. She manages all major aspects of the Network, including recruitment, member retention, and providing exceptional client service to an international membership base.
In her role as Executive Director, Griffiths manages a mix of international programs, engages a diverse global community, and develops an international membership base. She leads the development and successful implementation of major organizational initiatives, manages interpersonal relationships, and possesses executive presence with audiences of internal and external stakeholders. Griffiths excels at project management, organization, and planning, writes and speaks with influence and authority, and works independently while demonstrating flexibility in thinking, especially in challenging situations. She also adapts to diverse and dynamic environments with constant assessment and recalibration.
In 2021, the ILN was honored as Global Law Firm Network of the Year by The Lawyer European Awards, and in 2016, 2017, and 2022, they were shortlisted as Global Law Firm Network of the Year. Since 2011, the Network has been listed as a Chambers & Partners Leading Law Firm Network, recently increasing this ranking to be included in the top two percent of law firm networks globally, as well as adding two regional rankings. She was awarded “Thought Leader of the Year” by the Legal Marketing Association’s New York chapter in 2014 for her substantive contributions to the industry and was included in Clio’s list of “34 People in Legal You Should Follow on Twitter.” She was also chosen for the American Bar Association Journal’s inaugural Web 100‘s Best Law Blogs, where judge Ivy Grey said “This blog is outstanding, thoughtful, and useful.” Ms. Griffiths was chosen as a Top Author by JD Supra in their 2019 Readers’ Choice Awards, for the level of engagement and visibility she attained with readers on the topic of marketing & business development. She has been the author of Zen & the Art of Legal Networking since February 2009.
Welcome to ILN-terviews, a series of profiles of ILN member firm attorneys, designed to give a unique insight into the lawyers who make up our Network.
For our latest interview, we chose ILN member, Toomas Taube of Tark & Co. in Estonia.
In one sentence, how would you describe your practice?
As the head of the
Welcome to ILN-terviews, a series of profiles of ILN member firm attorneys, designed to give a unique insight into the lawyers who make up our Network.
For our latest interview, we chose ILN member, Dato’ Anad Krishnan of Anad & Noraini in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
In one sentence, how would you describe your practice?
A
Welcome to ILN-terviews, a series of profiles of ILN member firm attorneys, designed to give a unique insight into the lawyers who make up our Network.
For our latest interview, we chose ILN member, Can Natan of Ozcan & Natan in Istanbul, Turkey.
In one sentence, how would you describe your practice?
Mainly working on
It’s that time of year again – the LMA Annual Conference rolls around in just a few short weeks! It’s a great opportunity to make new friends and renew relationships, so I thought I’d keep a list of those attending as I’m advised, as well as their Twitter names (so anyone interested in the conference
Welcome to ILN-terviews, a series of profiles of ILN member firm attorneys, designed to give a unique insight into the lawyers who make up our Network.
For our latest interview, we chose ILN member, Anita Lovell of Nigel Harris & Partners in the Channel Islands.
In one sentence, how would you describe your practice?
I’m a
Recently, the ILN was alerted that fraudulent lottery winnings letters and checks are being sent to individuals in the United States. Someone is using stationery with what appears to be the ILN letterhead to advise them that the ILN held a drawing in November for over $200,000, which they have won. The letter also includes
Welcome to ILN-terviews, a series of profiles of ILN member firm attorneys, designed to give a unique insight into the lawyers who make up our Network.
For our latest interview, we chose ILN member, Sueli Avellar Fonseca of Nehring e Associados, Advocacia in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
In one sentence, how would you describe your practice?
Presently, I
Welcome to ILN-terviews, a series of profiles of ILN member firm attorneys, designed to give a unique insight into the lawyers who make up our Network.
For our latest interview, we chose ILN member, Gustavo de Jesus of Richards, Cardinal, Tutzer, Zabala & Zaefferer in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
In one sentence, how would you describe
The fourth session of the day at The Economist’s 7th General Counsel Conference focused on “The GC, the board and governance issues,” with a panel that included moderator TK Kerstetter, President and Chief Executive Officer of Board Member Inc/Corporate Board Member, Marty Wilczynski, Senior Managing Director at FTI Consulting, Stephen Cutler, Executive Vice-president and General Counsel of JPMorgan Chase, Bruce Vanya, Partner at Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP, and Ed Knight, Executive Vice-president, General Counsel, and Chief Regulatory Officer at NASDAQ OMX.
Kerstetter introduced the panel by saying that there are multiple topics that they could talk about surrounding the issue of governance, but he would start with the SEC. He said that people thought Mary Shapiro would be just a placeholder, but she’s been upfront, particularly with enforcement. Cutler, having worked at the SEC in the past, had a unique perspective and wanted to give the audience a sense of where enforcement is going. First, he said there is a more prosecutorial bent than ever before, because of the personnel makeup. He said this would change the shape of the SEC and make them more attuned to cooperation, such as rewarding the first person in the door. He also said it meant they would be rapping people hard and would be less attuned to what securities enforcement defense lawyers have paid attention to for a living. As a result, there would be more negotiating room around the edges. Secondly, there will be an emphasis on speed. Over the last few years, they have let cases drift, tempered by what Judge Rakoff did with the Bank of America case. Third, there will be more power of and to the staff, which means less checks & balances. Fourth, there has been a move on the part of the enforcement division to specialize and fifth, there is more of a focus on individuals. Before, they used to hold companies responsible, but not individuals, which is changing. Cutler pointed out that the SEC will now see everything they do through the prism of Madoff and Bear Stearns, as well as from an agency that wasn’t sure it would even exist anymore nine months ago. Wilczynski said that with respect to the current environment, it’s fair to say that they’ll be active in the next few years, but he’s seeing mixed signals. With the reorganization taking place, slots aren’t being filled aggressively. So though they’re active, the reorganization is slower than expected and there is an impact offset by the public record. In the last five years or so, the number of formal orders that the commission issued was about half of the 450 orders that have already been issued in 2009. It doesn’t feel that busy, but in public, they seem to be fully geared up, while in reality, there are still reorganization issues slowing things down. 2010 will be much busier.
After a short networking break, we reconvened at The Economist’s 7th General Counsel Conference for a panel discussion of “The election of directors: Could 2010 be the perfect storm?” The panel included moderator TK Kerstetter, President and Chief Executive Officer of Board Member Inc/Corporate Board Member, Michael McAlevey, Vice-president and Chief Corporate, Securities and Finance Counsel of General Electric, Peggy Foran, Vice-president, Chief Governance Officer, and Corporate Secretary of Prudential Financial, and Shelley Dropkin, General Counsel, Corporate Governance of Citigroup.
Kerstetter asked the panelists to start by commenting on their biggest concerns as the proxy season gets started. Dropkin said that it’s a combination of losing 452 on directors and majority voting, which could have unintended consequences. Now there’s a great concentration of institutions, activists and investors in the vote and she’s concerned about the degree to which they’re influenced by proxy advisors. Dropkin asked how responsible would institutions be in exercising their vote. She foresees a lot of strange results that could occur and have magnified impact because of the reduction of the retail vote. McAlevey said that he is concerned about a couple of things. Tactically, for a company like his, they have a significant retail vote, so this is meaningful and they need to come up with a way to encourage them to vote. They’ll need to look at the discretionary vote and do the math, so that they can see how it will affect them. He suggested hiring a proxy advisor firm to find new ways to contact and remind people to vote. His more seismic point was that much attention is focused on giving more weight to shareholders without making adjustments, but the economic crisis in 2008 was also the shareholders responsibility. The steps being taken may empower shareholders even more and encourage short-term interests. Foran believes there will be directors who are not elected. She said that activists kill what is already dead. Agreeing with the others, she shared that she was afraid of the impact on the boardroom. They’ll need courageous directors for the future, because those doing the right thing may get voted off. She feels it will be important for directors to communicate and engage, to tell their story before someone else tells it.Continue Reading The Economist’s General Counsel Roundtable Session Review: The election of directors: Could 2010 be the perfect storm?