Michael Tyler: Senior Vice President, Chief Legal and Administrative Officer, and Corporate Secretary of Gateway, Inc. | Gcconsulting.com
General Counsel Consulting
About us Attorney resources Employer resources Job listings Submit resume Contact Us
General Counsel Consulting
Sign In
Email:
Password:
Forgot your password?
New User?
Signup
 
2016
Most Influential
Legal Recruiters By
GCC
General Counsel
Consulting
provided
exceptional
service in helping
my organization
recruit for a hard
to fill position.
They did extensive
work on the front
end to understand
our needs and
our culture and
began referring
highly qualified
candidates almost
immediately.
 
Melinda Burrows
Deputy General Counsel
- Litigation and
Compliance, Progress
Energy Service Company
LLC
 

Jobs for Law Students
Law Student - Law Firm in San Jose, CA
USA-CA-San Jose
File Clerk The candidate will be organizing and filing documents for client files. Creating compute.... [more]


Articles By
Harrison Barnes From
BCG Attorney Search

 

 
Click here
 

Job of the Day
Legal Counsel for Beneficiaries; Proposition 19 & Property Tax Relief; Elder Law
Newport Beach California United States

"Certain beneficiaries and trustees lacking legal counsel that we fund trust loans for, generally fo...


GCC Profile
Article Archives

Michael Tyler: Senior Vice President, Chief Legal and Administrative Officer, and Corporate Secretary of Gateway, Inc.

  DOWNLOAD PDF         EMAIL TO FRIEND
 
  
GCC Profile

Michael Tyler: Senior Vice President, Chief Legal and Administrative Officer, and Corporate Secretary of Gateway, Inc.
By Jen Woods

After watching the movie The Paper Chase, high school student Michael Tyler knew right then and there that he wanted to become a lawyer. The main character in the movie, a brilliant but naïve law student, was a source of inspiration for Tyler, who is now Senior Vice President, Chief Legal and Administrative Officer, and Corporate Secretary of Gateway, Inc.

In 2000, Tyler joined Gateway's legal department in the United Kingdom. He served as the lead lawyer for the company's operations in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Then, in mid-2002, Tyler returned to the United States office, where he assumed various domestic and international responsibilities until he was promoted in September 2003 to General Counsel. In January 2006, Tyler was promoted to Senior Vice President, Chief Legal and Administrative Officer, and Corporate Secretary.

"The work varies widely, but my days tend to be dominated by corporate/securities and litigation issues," he said. Tyler oversees the company's legal department, as well as its human resources and facilities organizations. "My areas of managerial responsibility at Gateway have expanded beyond law to include, among other things, human resources and aspects of facilities and procurement. Most of the issues arising out of these areas are out of the ordinary to me. I am lucky to have had the opportunity to move beyond my comfort zone in law and take on these responsibilities," he said.

Large companies like Gateway are often involved in major legal battles. Tyler has dealt with several large-scale legal disputes and transactions since he joined the company. For instance, in April 2005, he helped resolve Gateway's antitrust claims against Microsoft, which resulted in an alliance agreement and earned Gateway $150 million.

"While by no means mandatory, I believe it is helpful as background to have worked both as an outside and in-house counsel. I would recommend starting in a law firm, where there often are more opportunities to learn the fundamentals, and then moving in-house," Tyler said.

"As my own experience indicates, I also believe it useful to gain broad experience rather than be highly specialized. That said, however, I would stress that there are a variety of paths to the position, and a large number of successful GCs joined their corporations from firms where they specialized in particular areas," he said.

"I would also suggest a focus on presentation skills. The ability to communicate legal concepts to non-lawyers is a very big part of the job," Tyler added.


More recently, Tyler resolved a patent battle with the Hewlett-Packard Corporation. "This matter was extremely complex—one of the largest in the U.S.—and involved numerous patents on both sides. The size of this dispute alone made it memorable," he said.

Given the "all-encompassing" nature of his job, Tyler said one of the biggest challenges he faces is trying to prevent really important issues from "falling through the cracks." His attention is diverted in many directions, and "it is easy to miss something in light of the calls, the emails, the appointments (etc.)," he said.

Patent litigation, a growing practice in the legal industry, also presents many challenges. "Gateway, like most computer hardware manufacturers, is subject to constant challenges on this front, and the costs of defense can be enormous," Tyler said. It is always challenging to keep costs within the company's budget, he added. "Legal expenses are unpredictable to some extent, and enforcing budgetary order on outside suppliers—who often have different interests—is never easy."

Tyler's diverse professional experience provided him with the necessary experience and foundation of knowledge to be a successful general counsel, he said. "I worked in a wide variety of areas prior to becoming GC: litigation, corporate finance, commercial and regulatory. I also worked at law firms and in-house. This breadth of experience was a significant factor in my being given the opportunity to be Gateway's General Counsel," he said.

Like most corporate counsels, Tyler began his career in private law firms. He worked for several different firms, the most recent being Heller, Ehrman, White & McAuliffe. "I wanted to go in-house simply because it seemed the practice that I enjoyed the most—international commercial work—was easier to come by in-house than as outside counsel," he said.

Therefore, Tyler made a career change and spent five years as Senior Corporate Counsel for Northrop Grumman Corporation, where he managed the legal aspects of the company's international operations. "One of the aspects of in-house work that I like particularly is the direct connection to business personnel (as opposed to working through the filter of an in-house lawyer, which is often the case when you practice in a large firm)," he said.

Most of all, Tyler said he enjoys his job because it is rewarding. "I still find it very satisfying to provide advice and counsel on legal matters—to use the information that I have obtained over the years to help the business meet its objectives," he said.

Tyler is a past chair of the International Law Section of the State Bar of California and of the European Law Committee of the American Bar Association's Section of International Law and Practice.

Tyler earned an LL.M. from Cambridge University, a J.D. from Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, and B.A. and M.A. degrees from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Gateway, Inc., formerly known as Gateway 2000, manufactures and distributes desktop and notebook computers and servers (PCs) and PC-related products. Headquartered in Irvine, CA, Gateway offers its PCs under two brand names: Gateway and eMachines.

On the Net
Gateway, Inc.
www.gateway.com/index.shtml

Heller, Ehrman, White & McAuliffe
www.hewm.com/en/index.html

Northrop Grumman Corporation
www.northropgrumman.com

Facebook comments:

  
 

Article ID: 120097

Article Title: Michael Tyler: Senior Vice President, Chief Legal and Administrative Officer, and Corporate Secretary of Gateway, Inc.

Comment not found for this article......
+ Add Comment

Related Artilces:
The Importance of In-House Legal Departments Being Engaged
Thomas Mills: General Counsel of the New Mexico Tourism and Economic Development Departments
Terra appoints Huey to head its legal affairs department
CaseCentral introduces improved IT tools for GCs
Senior Vice President, General Counsel, and Corporate Secretary of Jack in the Box, Inc., San Diego, CA
Lewis Shender, Vice President and General Counsel for Jenny Craig, Inc., Enjoys the Hands-On Involvement of Being an In-House Attorney
Bart Epstein: General Counsel and Vice President of Corporate Development for Tutor.com
Todd Klipp: Vice President and General Counsel of Boston University, Boston, MA
Mark LeHocky, Vice President, General Counsel, and Secretary of Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream Holdings, Inc., Oakland, CA
Wayne Lovett: Executive Vice President, General Counsel, and Corporate Secretary of Mercury Air Group, Inc.
 
  • Share this story:


  • BlinkList
  • blogmarks
  • del.icio.us
  • Digg
  • Facebook
  • Google
  • Sphinn
  • MySpace
  • NewsVine
  • Simpy
  • StumbleUpon
  • Technorati
  • E-mail this story to a friend!
  • Print this article!
  • Faves
  • Furl
  • Netvouz
  • Slashdot
  • Spurl
  • Yahoo! Buzz



 
 

Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss it, you will land among the stars.