Sedora Jefferson, the associate executive director and general counsel for the Texas Association of School Boards Inc. in Austin, answers questions about her expectations of outside counsel and how her previous work experience helps her out on the job today.

A recent ruling in an employment dispute between four former administrative law judges and the Texas State Office of Administrative Hearings, throws out two plaintiffs but allows two plaintiffs to proceed with claims that the agency discriminated against them based on their age and gender.

After across-the-board declines the previous year, in-house counsel compensation bounced back up in 2012 in every category of pay that we measure. Average total cash received rose 6.7 percent to $1,853,671, which is the highest figure we’ve seen since 2000.

On July 26, U.S. District Magistrate Judge Amos L. Mazzant of the Eastern District of Texas in Sherman issued an order that sided with an insurance company and pared attorney fees from a requested $353,125 to $19,660.

Regardless of the industry, businesses rely more and more on outside vendors to provide both standard and custom products and services. In-house counsel stands poised as the gatekeeper to manage — or at the very least review — third party vendor relationships.