2023 Corporate Counsel Awards
As in-house counsel, attorneys have the opportunity to become fully integrated with their companies by developing short-term goals and long-term strategies. Utah Business is proud to celebrate those who guide their companies to a continued standard of excellence.
Alex Pearson
General Counsel & Corporate Secretary | Filevine
What do you enjoy most about in-house work?
I have always loved being part of a team. As outside counsel, you are an honorary part of a client’s team until a specific transaction or project is completed, and then you go back to the sidelines until that client needs something else. When you are in-house and there is a project or task to be done, you pull together the right stakeholders and work on it as a team. You then get to celebrate the success of the project together or commiserate together if you fall short.
What is the most rewarding thing about your job? Why?
I have the unique privilege of working as the chief lawyer for a legal technology company. Therefore, I am often “customer zero” when it comes to product feedback. I am often able to speak to our customers and prospective customers in my role as company counsel but also in my role as a user of the legal technology. It is fun and rewarding to see some of my ideas put into our technology and used by our customers.
Analise Quinn Wilson
General Counsel | Ivory Homes, Ltd.
What is the most rewarding thing about your job? Why?
The Ivory family has big ideas and even bigger philanthropic goals. My most rewarding projects have been helping take those big ideas and finding creative legal mechanisms to facilitate the greatest social impact.
What advice do you have for companies seeking in-house counsel?
My advice is to find the right person, not the right resume. With my background in commercial litigation, I was not an obvious choice for general counsel of a real estate development and homebuilding company. However, in-house work is so varied that there isn’t any single discipline that would have prepared me to succeed. For general counsel, I think it is more important to find someone who is willing to get up -to -speed in a variety of practice areas than someone who already has a specific subject matter expertise.
Brett Zollinger
Deputy General Counsel | Ivanti
What advice do you have for someone fresh out of law school?
Don’t feel pressured to follow traditional legal career paths. There are so many important skills to learn that have nothing to do with the law. As in-house counsel, you will need to provide legal and business advice. You’ll need to have the ability to find creative solutions to help the business meet its goals and solve its problems. As such, having experience outside the legal functions of a business can help you see the bigger picture and be a more successful partner to the business.
What challenges have you overcome to get here today?
Coming out of law school to a saturated job market and then quickly being laid off from my first job with a law firm was quite disheartening. Those challenges led me to look outside the more traditional legal career paths and begin my career as a non-practicing lawyer focused on negotiations and business administration. That path helped me develop a number of invaluable skills and led me to where I am today.
Brian A. Lebrecht
President, Director & Shareholder | Clyde Snow & Sessions
What is the most rewarding thing about your job? Why?
This sounds cliché, but helping my clients achieve their goals is incredibly rewarding. I won’t offer to help unless I really think I can help them succeed, and once we go down that path, we are in it together. I always use terms such as “we” and “us” because that’s how I approach my client relationships.
What advice do you have for someone fresh out of law school?
Attack it hard! This is a great profession, but it’s not easy. Use all the resources at your disposal, and aggressively do the best job that you can, no matter the task or assignment. If you do this consistently, you will have unlimited opportunities and the rest will take care of itself.
Chris Rogers
General Counsel & Chief Legal Officer | Professional Insurance Exchange Mutual, Inc.
What do you enjoy most about in-house work?
Our in-house work is unique in that it is a mix of general counsel and litigation work. I enjoy the variety that in-house work offers. One day I could be lobbying on the Capitol, drafting a revision to company policy, arguing (and winning) a motion to dismiss in court, answering a question from a government regulator or giving my thoughts on corporate strategy to the CEO at lunch—all while not worrying about a billable hour.
What does success look like to you?
Success isn’t just reaching the top of a mountain exclaiming, “I made it!” and standing there admiring the view. Success is in each step of the journey. It happens every day. Whether it’s giving advice to the board or CEO that helps their decision-making, helping an insured win a lawsuit, getting a law changed to help our industry or educating the profession on reducing risks, those are all examples of success.
Clark Collings
General Counsel & Secretary to the Board of Trustees | Utah Valley University
What is the most rewarding thing about your job? Why?
Contributing to Utah Valley University’s open-admission model—inviting all students to “come as you are”—is not only rewarding, but it is also invigorating. I’m grateful to work for an organization where my work directly impacts people who are trying to improve their lives. I also love working with energetic, funny, kind and insanely intelligent people.
What advice do you have for someone fresh out of law school?
Do the best you can to find a job opportunity that aligns with your values and provides you with some sort of personal satisfaction. Also, seek out mentors who are willing to be your champion and/or sponsor.
Eric Nielsen
Chief IP Officer & General Counsel | Kizik
What is the most rewarding thing about your job? Why?
It is rewarding to see Kizik hands-free shoes in the wild, not just on the feet of family and friends. It is rewarding to see the joy of independence that Kiziks provide, whether to a child who doesn’t have to wait for someone to tie her shoes before she goes to play, a teenager with better things to do, a parent juggling children or an adult who has a physical disability. At Kizik, we sometimes say that “nobody likes to tie their shoes and some people can’t.” That ties into our brand purpose at Kizik: we are “inspiring greater joy for life by making the everyday easier.”
What do you enjoy most about in-house work?
I remember counseling a client while working as a young attorney and outlining for her all of the legal risks tied to different business strategies she was evaluating. Somewhat frustrated, she finally said, “Just tell me what to do.” As much as outside counsel wants to provide business advice, there are some inherent limitations to doing so. As in-house counsel, rather than only providing legal advice, I’m able to provide business advice informed by the law. That distinction is fulfilling to me.
Hadley R. Moss
General Counsel | Goal Zero
What advice do you have for someone fresh out of law school?
Hold on to your humanity. Even opposing counsel has a mother.
What advice do you have for companies seeking in-house counsel?
A high-performing practitioner is not necessarily a great leader or manager. Law firms are great at creating high-performing practitioners but often do not develop or even mention leadership training. Being in-house counsel, especially a lone general counsel with a wide array of legal subject matters to handle, requires great leadership skills more than great legal practice skills in order to meet business needs effectively. Someone who can do both is invaluable.
John Spilman
General Counsel | rPlus Energies, LLC
What does success look like to you?
For more than nine years, I’ve been helping my pioneering clients open the utility-scale solar PV market in Utah and develop the next generation of pumped hydro energy storage projects that will help ensure transmission grid reliability while interconnecting more wind, solar and other low-carbon power plants. This all happened for me after 20 years as a California wind lawyer. Today I’m proud to say I helped create my dream role: heading a department of five talented legal professionals supporting the development, construction and financing of over 30 wind, solar and energy storage projects all under one banner.
What challenges have you overcome to get here today?
I’ve served renewable energy clients for over 30 years. In the early decades, that meant scrambling for wind energy project development and finance work in 11 states and four Canadian provinces. It also meant hanging on through many economic and political cycles that challenged the whole industry. Getting to this role in pumped storage while continuing to grow wind and solar took patience and allying with clients who held the vision while the market for storage matured. At rPlus Energies and rPlus Hydro, we’re working every day to help bring our customers and communities more than current.
Elder Lance B. Wickman
General Counsel | The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
What advice do you have for someone fresh out of law school?
Realize that, above all, you are in a profession of service. You not only represent your clients—you also represent the rule of law to all with whom you associate.
What is the most rewarding thing about your job? Why?
Helping to further the mission of the Church.
Naz Scott
General Counsel & SVP, Legal | HireVue, Inc.
What is the most interesting project you’ve worked on as counsel?
Where to start? Every day presents new and unique challenges when you’re working for a technology company on the global stage. One of the most recent projects is simply getting to work with our internal sciencet team on evangelizing our responsible uses of AI. This has required me to learn and become very knowledgeable about an area that I didn’t know much about until about two years ago.
What do you enjoy most about in-house work?
One of the most enjoyable aspects of working in-house is being part of a dynamic and innovative team that is building something meaningful. It’s incredibly rewarding to contribute to the success of the company and see the impact of our work on the broader industry, our clients and our candidates. What makes working at HireVue particularly exciting is the opportunity to learn from a wide range of stakeholders who all bring their own unique perspectives and expertise. Every day presents new challenges and opportunities to grow and expand my knowledge in different areas of the business.
Randy Wood
VP, Associate General Counsel | Cricut
What challenges are you most looking forward to taking on next?
When people ask me what an in-house attorney does, sometimes I answer, “We help people solve problems.” As many know, the job is often very reactive—to disputes, contracts, legal issues, etc.—but the challenges I look forward to most are those that are proactive in nature. Whether it’s streamlining legal operations, implementing new legal technologies into the business, sharpening new standard operating procedures to better identify risk, preparing and planning for compliance with upcoming legislation or something else proactive, I love working alongside others to help make it happen.
What is the most interesting project you’ve worked on as counsel?
Having the chance to work in-house for two Utah-based tech companies and assist with both of their respective Initial Public Offering (IPO) and S-1 filing processes has been interesting and something I’m extremely grateful for. As a native Utahn, I feel so honored to have a career inside Silicon Slopes and witness first-hand Utah’s growing tech economy in action. Working through the IPO process at Pluralsight in 2018 and then co-leading the IPO process here at Cricut in 2021 have been massive career highs that will sit with me forever.
Stan Soper
Chief Legal Officer | Brandless
What is the most rewarding thing about your job? Why?
I enjoy finding ways to free others from worries, distractions and obstacles. It is especially rewarding to help team members have the time and confidence to focus on fulfilling their purpose and goals. This can allow the company to grow and progress more rapidly.
What challenges are you most looking forward to taking on next?
Helping Brandless chart a successful path through the next phases of rapid growth as well as laying the foundations for a future successful exit. To date, I’ve been involved in more than 70 acquisitions and an IPO as well as a going-private transaction. I think all of that brings valuable experience and knowledge, and I’m glad I can continue to learn and contribute.
Steven G. Black
General Counsel | Savory Restaurant Fund
What challenges are you most looking forward to taking on next?
Mitigating risks associated with the aggressive expansion of nine separate restaurant brands in many different states while achieving each brand’s ultimate goal of a successful exit strategy for both the Savory Restaurant Fund and the original brand founders.
What advice do you have for companies seeking in-house counsel?
Companies seeking in-house counsel should look for candidates with a strong legal background, business acumen and the ability to work collaboratively across departments. It is important to ensure the candidate has experience in relevant legal areas such as compliance, litigation and contracts. Additionally, candidates should have excellent communication skills and be able to provide strategic advice that aligns with the company’s objectives. Companies should also consider the candidate’s cultural fit and alignment with the company’s values. Finally, it is essential to offer competitive compensation and benefits packages to attract and retain top talent.
To learn more about this year’s winners, watch the event video below. To access photos from this event, please click here. 
