Reinventing Professionals

I spoke with Mark Herrmann, the Vice President, Chief Counsel – Litigation, and Global Chief Compliance Officer for Aon, about his fourth book, Inside Straight: Advice About Lawyering, In-House and Out, That Only the Internet Could Provide (ABA Publishing, 2012), which is a compilation of his columns for AbovetheLaw.com about life as an in-house lawyer. He balances his often-humorous guidance with selected comments from readers of his work. “Some of the things people write are unbelievably funny; some are strikingly smart … and collectively the commenters know an awful lot of stuff,” he said. The book highlights techniques for developing business, succeeding in the law, and navigating corporate politics, among other topics. He is also the author of the highly-acclaimed, The Curmudgeon’s Guide to Practicing Law by Mark Herrmann (ABA Publishing, 2006), which itself started as a series of articles. In fact, he noted: “In some ways, Inside Straight is a sequel to the Curmudgeon’s Guide.” Herrmann is also the c