Meet Michael Cordero
Michael is a focused and experienced General Counsel and business leader with more than 25 years of experience in successfully managing the strategic priorities of sophisticated and fast-growing organizations. Michael began his career as a commercial finance and M&A lawyer at Morrison & Foerster and Skadden Arps in San Francisco. In early 2000, Michael joined the Amazon.com Legal Department and was one of the earliest lawyers hired by Amazon in-house. After eight years at Amazon in Seattle and London, Michael became EVP and General Counsel at Big Fish Games. He and his internal team managed all legal, risk management, and compliance efforts through its successful acquisition by Churchill Downs Incorporated. Having practiced at both global law firms and large and emerging growth companies, Michael enjoys partnering with lawyers on both sides of the client equation to help each other understand the other and create mutually beneficial long-term partnerships.
What excites you about working with lawyers and law firms?
I enjoy meeting other lawyers, understanding their personalities and strengths, and helping them discern with whom and how they can partner best with their colleagues and clients. Having been a consumer of legal services in-house for almost 20 years, I have a different perspective to share on the client development and engagement process, an insider’s guide, or “teacher’s edition” of understanding how to develop meaningful client relationships. I enjoy challenging professional firms to consider themselves as not just a source of valuable expertise but as emerging growth ventures of their own that can structure client engagements as uniquely and creatively as their clients grow their businesses.
What advice would you give to an associate who’s about to make partner?
Take the time to learn and fully understand how your perspective will shift in a management role from executing on a client’s priorities to strategically partnering with clients in anticipating, identifying, and managing those priorities in a way that builds long-term trust and engagement.
As a business owner, always remain conscious that your clients are your customers. Consider business development opportunities from the perspective of their needs and resource constraints rather than leading with your firm’s expertise. Meeting your clients “where they’re at,” as the saying goes, will build the loyalty and escalating revenue opportunities that you need to make your own business a successful venture.
Finally, in identifying potential new clients, know your strengths and the types of individuals or entities you work best within your practice. In most instances, any new engagement is no different from an internal hiring decision on your client’s part – the right expertise is a baseline. Still, the best cultural and temperamental “fit” signals trust and opens the door.
Is there someone whose career path you’ve changed, and how does that inform your work now?
In 2009, I hired a brilliant and talented lawyer to build out the internal legal team at Big Fish Games. Over time, as expected, she did a fantastic job, and I systematically promoted her from Director to Senior Director to Vice President/Associate General Counsel. Ultimately, we promoted her to General Counsel, a role she still holds today, when I retired from the company after it was acquired.
I’ve learned over time that succession planning is essential and performance management is complex. Investing more time in high-performing leaders at your firm will help you understand what your clients are doing internally on a parallel track and ultimately benefit your business.
How does your past experience help you in your job?
Having practiced at both law firms and in-house for many years, I’ve been privy to the internal discussions, planning, and prioritizing that law firms don’t see when they’re engaging with prospective clients and that clients don’t know when meeting with potential outside counsel. From that perspective, I hope to bridge the gap between each party, understand the other, and find ways to communicate more effectively.
Describe a unique moment in your career.
As a corporate lawyer, being General Counsel of a company poised to go public and ultimately was sold in a successful transaction that benefitted both employees and investors was the culmination of all the experience I accumulated at large firms and Amazon. However, what I didn’t fully appreciate until going through it was the immeasurable amount of selfless collaboration it would take from so many dedicated professionals internally and working with us at our external advisory firms. In particular, our external counsel has trusted partners of my internal legal team and the management team overall and was an integral part of strategically planning and executing a successful exit event for the company.
What is something most people don’t know about you?
I’ve run six marathons (when I was younger!) and traveled to 42 countries worldwide. My long-term goal was to experience the natural beauty of living in the Pacific Northwest and the history and cultural opportunities in Europe. I currently split my time between homes in Seattle and London. I genuinely believe that if you can envision what you want your life to be, you can make it a reality through conscious choice and embracing opportunity.
Education
New York University (NYU) School of Law, J.D., 1993
City University of New York, Queens College, B.A., magna cum laude, 1990
Austin | Boston | Chicago | London | Minneapolis | Seattle | Washington D.C.
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