Executive Employment Perspectives Blog

Congratulations and best wishes to our client, Dr. Sarah Willie-LeBreton, currently Provost and Dean at Swarthmore College, on her appointment as the 12th President of Smith College commencing in July 2023.

https://www.smith.edu/about-smith/presidential-announcement/letter

We were privileged to represent Dr. Willie-LeBreton in her contract... Read More

Executive employment lawyers who practice in the area of higher education understand from experience that there are a number of sections in the contract of a college or university president which would not appear in the contract of an executive in the... Read More

As executive employment lawyers who work with leaders in higher education and independent schools, we feel rewarded when our clients express their gratitude for our services. Yet the work of lawyers rarely survives the present moment because clients have contracts, needs and... Read More

Can things get worse?

Just as we seem to be emerging from two years of the pandemic, and starting to feel that, with vaccinations and new treatments, not every diagnosis of COVID-19 need be a sentence of serious illness or even death,... Read More

As executive employment attorneys who concentrate on negotiating the contracts for college and university presidents, deans and provosts, and the heads of independent schools, we hear many of the same questions by these academic leaders as they prepare for contract negotiations. They... Read More

Marty Latz, one of my favorite negotiation gurus, recently wrote a fascinating blog about the failure of negotiations to avoid the war in Ukraine. One of Latz’s salient points was that Vladimir Putin, who only understands crude power as leverage in a... Read More

As executive employment attorneys, when we ask new clients to send us their employment documents for review, we often hear the comment, “I don’t have an employment agreement, just an offer letter.” This is particularly true in the financial services industry and... Read More

In approaching any executive employment agreement, attorneys who represent executives focus on two primary tasks:

First, securing and, if possible, increasing the benefits of the agreement for their executive client, including but not limited to base salary, bonuses, deferred compensation, equity or... Read More

How should an executive, whether a college president, a finance executive, or a senior leader in media or industry, best use an executive employment attorney?

This question arises because even sophisticated individuals use a lawyer on an infrequent basis. As opposed to... Read More

Why is it important for executive employment attorneys who regularly advise college and university presidents and other senior leaders in higher education to understand the peculiar hiring cycle to which these presidents and deans are most often subject?

The answer is clear.... Read More