[co-author: Olga Mack, Clearslide]

Carly and Olga were law school classmates at Berkeley Law and have continued their friendship and professional collaboration ever since. They serve as board members for both for-profit companies and non-profit organizations. They believe lawyers bring experiences and skills to a boardroom that are tremendously valuable to a board’s fiduciary duties and a company’s ability to adapt to the changing marketplace. They embarked on a journey to learn more and share their findings about the richness of board opportunities, the skills lawyers can bring to the board, the process for joining a board, and real life stories about lawyers serving on boards in the chapters contained in this book. Many of these chapters were originally published by the Association of Corporate Counsel’s (ACC) Docket, primarily as a monthly column.

The book is broken down into the following sections:

(1) Pursuing a seat at the table: This section includes information on various corporate board opportunities and strategies for pursuing a board position.

(2) Bringing value to the boardroom: This section includes insights on various substantive matters impacting board performance, including the board’s role with cybersecurity and company strategy, and ideas for diversifying the boardroom.

(3) Inspiration from the boardroom: This section includes interviews of people who have successfully navigated the boardroom, who share their insights and experiences regarding their various boards, including corporate boards, non-profit boards, and family boards of advisors.