Five months after joining Dick's Sporting Goods Inc., Diane Lazzaris is schooling herself in the ways of the fast-growing Findlay Township-based retailer.
"I'm concentrating on learning the business, to be as familiar with it as I can be," said Lazzaris, who is senior vice president of legal, general counsel and secretary. "To be a good corporate counsel, you need to be flexible, and the more you understand the underlying business, the better lawyer you can be for that business."
"Working in-house really demands that you learn quickly and can speak with people in all groups of the business and understand all functions of the business," said Lazzaris, who previously worked as a corporate lawyer at Alcoa. "The lawyers I've seen who are most successful in that role are good communicators and negotiators."
Lazzaris' background, from dual post-graduate degrees to avoiding the law firm track is unusual, said Lori Carpenter, president of Downtown recruitment firm Carpenter Legal Search, who has worked with Dick's in the past. "We tend to see corporations who want lawyers who spent some time in a firm before moving in-house so they have solid training and understand the nuances," Carpenter said. But she said Lazzaris' past experience is very well suited to her roles at Dick's, particularly since in-house lawyers must "concentrate on being proactive and giving a combination of business and legal advice" instead of "worrying about billing time."
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Flexibility Lazzaris' strong suit - by Patty Tascarella, Pittsburgh Business Times