It’s your first day at a law firm. All being well you can rock up, meet colleagues, meet clients and start lawyering. Although many things that will concern you about starting the new job, I doubt they include worrying about whether there will be adequate know-how support, a robust matter management system or indeed colleagues who will have the right subject matter expertise that you’ll need in the future to work on projects together. The business you’ve joined sells your legal advice, and every function of that business is set up with the sole objective to support you, your partners, associates and juniors in the business of selling that legal advice.
Click here to download the paper, What does a robust in-house legal department look like?
Compare that to your first day as an in-house lawyer. Every function of the business you’ve just joined is focused on the performance of that business; nobody, except you, is focused on how you provide your legal advice. You are, however, expected to provide excellent legal advice in relation to all areas of the business. As a result, when demand finally outstrips supply – in other words, when you’ve maxed out your resources of skills and time – you hire another lawyer, and the process repeats itself.
As a lawyer, whether you are providing legal advice to a carousel of clients at a law firm, or providing legal advice to a single, albeit more demanding, client as its in-house lawyer, you start with the same toolkit. In fact, I would argue that you need a much bigger toolkit. In private practice, you were selected by your clients to provide your expertise in areas where you are an acknowledged expert, at specific times, for specific projects, and when those clients could afford to pay for it. In an in-house role, you are expected to have all the answers at all times, and be able to deliver them regardless of other current concerns.
This is some expectation. As a result, your function’s performance and even survival – and that of the business you serve – will depend on your answer to this question: how robust is your legal department? Read this paper to find out the three areas you should focus on, in order to answer it effectively.
