Alumni Newsletter

As we turn to the fall we have a few major annoucements to share. This year, in honor of our 75th anniversary, MVA celebrated both public service and milestone tenures in one special event by hosting the 2025 Van Allen Service Celebration on September 17. This event served as an opportunity to celebrate employees making significant service contributions. Please click here to view information about the award recipients, Caroline Yingling, Melissa Nazario and Edna Marte.

Building upon the firm’s commitment to Charlotte’s continued growth and its investment in the city’s future, MVA is pleased to share that the firm was featured in the Charlotte Business Journal’s recent coverage of Queensbridge Collective ready to start next phase as anchor tenant inked for second tower. MVA will serve as the anchor tenant of Tower Two, leasing approximately 206,000 square feet in the newly announced office tower. The Queensbridge Collective will bring new energy to Charlotte’s skyline with a mix of office, residential, hotel, and retail space. We cannot wait to welcome you to our new home. 

Alumni Spotlight: Scott Schools, Chief Compliance Officer at OpenAI, shares details on his current role and best practices for other attorneys.

Q: Please tell us about your current role and how you got to where you are today.

A: I am the Chief Compliance Officer at OpenAI. I left MVA in October 2016 when I was asked by then Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates to return to the DOJ to fill a role vacated by the death of David Margolis, who was the Department’s Senior Career Official. A little less than two years into that job, a friend of mine reached out to see if I would be interested in the Chief Compliance Officer role at Uber.  After much hand wringing, I decided to take the Uber job, and I became Uber’s Chief Compliance Officer in July 2018. About six years later, a recruiter from OpenAI reached out to me on LinkedIn to see if I might be interested in the same role there. After a long series of interviews (I think it was 11), they offered me the job, and I started in October 2024. 

Q: What are three keys to your professional success?

A: I often wonder the same thing! In hindsight, I think three keys are:

I am curious. I was a math major in college, and I think that training helps me identify gaps in logic or reasoning, and drives my desire to fill those gaps. I think that instinct has really helped me be an effective advocate.

I work hard and am almost always on. While I don’t think I am a workaholic (I like not working better), I also have recognized that my clients have expected timely responses, so I have been willing to be connected and responsive during most waking hours—much to the consternation of my wife. 

I enjoy working on a team and am appreciative of the expertise that other members of the team bring to a task. My biggest mistakes have probably come when I “went it alone,” or failed to take advantage of the collective wisdom of the teams I have had a chance to be a part of. Within those teams, I have always welcomed disparate views and believe that avoiding groupthink is a key to making good decisions. 

Q: What suggestions do you have for an in-house attorney looking to better engage his or her client and become a more integrated, trusted advisor?

A: I read Trusted Advisor fairly early in my Uber tenure, and I was struck by a quote in the book from Dale Carnegie that said, “The only way to influence people is to find out what they want and show them how to get it.” As in-house counsel, I believe it’s critical to appreciate that achieving business objectives is the goal, not good lawyering. By advising the business in a way that recognizes the business objectives and seeks to find legal paths to those objectives, the in-house counsel speaks the language of their clients and will be heard and trusted. It is a partnership, and the lawyers who approach their relationship with the business that way will have more success. 

Q: What has been your most rewarding professional experience?

A: I have enjoyed all my jobs, but probably the most rewarding was the year I spent as the US Attorney in the Northern District of California. It was an unlikely success story—guy from South Carolina goes to be the US Attorney in San Francisco. However, the team was open to leadership from outside of the District, and I believe we all had a great year together managing to have fun, do great work, and elevate the comradery within the office. It was hard work, but great fun and very rewarding.