|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
After a decade in law firms, Eric Schultz was finally convinced to go in-house. The joke among his friends is that he was one of the very last standing in private practice, in fact. And Schultz didn’t pick the easiest of in-house opportunities, but he thinks he picked the right one.
Just eight months into his assistant deputy general counsel role at Norfolk Southern, Schultz is learning the ins and outs of one of the US’s most complex and tradition-rich industries, a role that encompasses rail operations and the company’s vast, unionized workforce. Schultz may be a labor and employment lawyer by training, but this is a new environment.
That starts with a more general approach to becoming an in-house operator. “This was an opportunity to become a true business partner rather than just a litigator,” the ADGC explains. His results are no longer measured by billable hours or transactional victories. His role at present is much more about providing strategic counsel, delivering holistic risk assessment, and figuring out how to support his partners across various areas of Norfolk Southern’s business.
Then there’s the more rail-centric parts of the job. Few industries are as opaque to outsiders as the railways, governed not just by corporate policy but by unique federal law like the Railway Labor Act (RLA), a foundational piece of employment policy (like the National Labor Relations Act) that many employment lawyers may never actually interact with. Schultz came to Norfolk Southern with experience representing airlines and airline service providers, a helpful, if not one-to-one, comparison.
One must also consider the workforce.
“Eighty percent of our employees are unionized,” Schultz explains. “So, we have a huge labor relations team. Some of them are lawyers, and many are not. But they’re always considering how to handle tough employee situations within the confines of the collective bargaining agreements. I’m working with those teams daily about doing what’s right for Norfolk Southern.”
Schultz hasn’t been afraid to get his hands dirty, at times literally. Norfolk Southern actively encourages its legal staff to get hands-on, visiting rail yards, watching trains broken down and rebuilt, and meeting the employees whose work underpins everything.
“When they say you need to understand your business, that’s something I take very seriously,” Schultz says. “I learned as a litigator you are at a real disadvantage if you do not intimately understand the business you represent; the railroad is such a unique place, it’s been a goal from day one to become an expert on our business so I can be a truly effective counselor.”
Adapting to the in-house environment has meant, maybe more than ever, focusing on the building and cultivation of relationships. Schultz says building trust has been the key to his role. At present, that means working to ensure that his clients throughout the business know who he is, that he’s there to help, and that he’s someone who can get things done and come up with creative solutions to complicated problems.
In transitioning to in-house practice and a more team-centric environment, Schultz has had to put aside some of what made him a successful litigator. In fact, Schultz made his way into Duke as an undergraduate student playing golf, a sport that requires the steadiest of individual efforts. But after a decade of providing great results at law firms, Schultz longed to be part of something bigger and lasting.
“This is just the start for me, but I really believe I made the right in-house choice after a decade of building my skillset in the outside counsel seat,” the ADGC says.
Schultz’s initial pursuit of law was sparked by a 30-minute, single-camera satire about sports agents, HBO’s Arliss.
“I was exercising from a pretty young age in our little home gym, and I would be flipping through channels for some background entertainment, and Arliss just always seemed like it was on,” Schultz says, laughing. “I was sports obsessed, and I thought it was awesome that the main character represented professional athletes. My parents told me he had to go to law school to do that—and, as silly as it sounds, that is how I first thought becoming a lawyer might be for me.”
It may not be the player’s union, but the various railway unions that represent Norfolk Southern employees certainly offer a new level of complexity and challenge that Schultz was seeking. Schultz’s time finally came to go in-house, and he is grateful for the chance to grow in a whole new direction.
“Eric’s hardworking and diligent approach consistently elevates our collaboration, and we value the trust and synergy we’ve built together. It’s a pleasure to partner with Eric and the Norfolk Southern team, who exemplify professionalism and commitment every step of the way.”
–Kathleen Jones Goldman, Shareholder
