This post was originally published by the D1 Blog, The
Dispute Resolver, on November 11, 2024 by Jessica Knox. Link to original
post: https://abaconstructionforumdivision1.blogspot.com/2024/11/meet-forums-in-house-counsel-robert.html
Company: McKenney's, Inc.
Email: robert.p.brown@mckenneys.com
Website: www.mckenneys.com
College: Georgia
State University (B.A. Political Science)
Law
School: Emory University School of Law (JD 1989)
States Where
Company Operates/Does Business: Headquartered in Atlanta, GA
along with an office in Charlotte, NC, and does business in VA, NC, SC, TN, GA,
AL, and FL.
Q: Describe your background and the path you took to
becoming in-house counsel.
A: I dreamed of being a lawyer in high school, but that
was not a realistic option for me at that time. So, after working my way
through college, I took a job as a service technician and soon was promoted to
a salesperson. My sales job worked out very well, and four years into it, my
wife gave me an ultimatum -- seek your dream job now or forever hold your peace
on the matter. Thereafter, married with two children, I quit my job, my wife
returned to teaching, and I went to law school.
My legal career began at a large firm in Atlanta, and a few
years into it I had the good fortune to work on a construction case. As the
firm got more construction cases, we created a Construction Law Section. That
section boomed with business, which afforded me the opportunity to handle my
own cases as First Chair and serve as “Managing Partner” in large
multi-million-dollar international construction arbitrations.
Based on that experience, gained over 14 years at the firm,
The Shaw Group recruited me to serve as its Vice President of Litigation. In
that role, I was responsible for Shaw’s legal disputes and my “portfolio” of
claims often exceeded a billion dollars. My 8½ year tenure at Shaw ended when
Shaw was acquired by Chicago Bridge & Iron.
After leaving Shaw, I was presented with an opportunity to
join McKenney’s, Inc. as its first General Counsel and as a business partner in
the company. I have been at McKenney’s for over 10 years, which will soon end
as I plan to retire from the company next year.
Q: How does working in-house compare or differ from firm
life?
A: On the road to becoming an equity partner at my
firm, one of my most critical keys to success began to shift from
producing an excellent legal product to selling an excellent legal
product. I found that ironic since I left my first career as a salesperson to
practice law, and it seemed like continued success in my legal career would
require, in no small part, transitioning back into a salesperson as Rainmakers
rule at law firms. As in-house counsel, I do not have these same demands.
Being in-house also intensified my need to be an efficient,
effective problem-solver, which I very much enjoy. One of my most challenging,
yet rewarding, legal career experiences occurred soon after my promotion to
Deputy General Counsel. Shaw’s senior management gave me the special assignment
of serving as Legal Counsel for Shaw’s Vogtle Units 3 & 4
multi-billion-dollar nuclear power project. Decisions and solutions had to be
made and carried out in real time, often with no margin for error. An in-house
counsel position allows you to be “in the trenches” with the business leaders
and meaningfully contribute to the company’s success.
Q: What kind of work does your company do? Do you focus
on specific sectors, states, or regions?
A: The Shaw Group was a global Fortune 500 company
providing engineering, construction, fabrication, environmental, and industrial
services in industries ranging from Power, Energy, Oil & Gas, Chemical,
Environmental, Infrastructure, and Government.
McKenney’s, Inc., one of the largest mechanical contractors
in the United States, provides construction, engineering, design, HVAC,
plumbing, controls, commissioning, and maintenance services in the commercial,
healthcare, government, and higher education markets working on projects such
as office towers, stadiums, hospitals, and data centers.
Q: What advice would you give to outside counsel about
how to meet or even exceed their client's expectations?
A: The single most important piece of advice I
would give outside counsel about how to meet or exceed their client’s
expectations is: you must obtain and maintain a crystal-clear understanding of
what the client’s expectations are. Seems simple, but that often is more
elusive than you think. Sometimes, the client and/or the in-house
representative of the client have not fully formed their expectations, or the
expectations have changed over the course of the matter. So, outside counsel
must build a reliable communication channel into the business, and ensure your
on-going interactions have the proper objectives and are with the right people.
Do not just provide updates on the status of the matter. Engage in an ongoing
dialogue to keep track of the goals and expectations of the client and,
critically, continually confirm what the client defines as success. It is not
always winning the case. If you truly understand, and in many instances help
define, what qualifies as success at any given point in the matter, you give
yourself the best chance of meeting or exceeding the client’s expectations.
Q: What are the work/business-related issues that tend to
keep you up at night?
A: AI offers great promise that comes with real peril,
which can fall upon the in-house counsel to protect against. Senior management
recognizes the need to have stringent safeguards in place to guard against
employees loading the company’s confidential or proprietary information into
any AI systems. That, however, can fall short of adequately protecting the
company when you fully comprehend how insidiously AI systems, which thrive on
data, super-efficiently gather, analyze, and synthesize mega amounts of data. So,
companies can successfully prevent their confidential/proprietary data from
entering through the front door of AI systems. However, the proliferation of
embedded AI, its ease of use, and its prompt delivery of tangible benefits, has
me questioning whether market leading companies seeking to take advantage of AI
can implement AI use policies and procedures that successfully prevent AI from
siphoning off the market leaders’ data and making it available to their
competitors to educate themselves on how they can overtake the market
leaders.
Q: What do you plan on doing after retiring?
A: Having reached 45 years of blissful marriage, my
wife and I both agree retirement for me will not involve
sleeping late and lounging around the/her house. Instead, like most retiring
construction attorneys, I hope to spend time doing arbitrations and mediations.
I prefer serving as a mediator, which I have been doing on a part-time
basis for the past 10½ years while serving as McKenney’s General Counsel. I
somehow found the time to do that because of the fulfilment I derive from
helping people reach amicable resolutions, particularly when that appears
impossible. Interestingly, rather than my 14 years as an outside counsel
litigator, I find my in-house experience – eight plus years working to resolve
billions in claims for a General Contractor and ten plus years resolving all
claims for a subcontractor – most beneficial to me as a mediator.
