Part 1: In-house lawyers - your legal business partner
The role of the in-house lawyer has changed drastically in the last couple of decades. From being viewed as a secondary and less recognized positions for many practicing lawyers is it now seen as a prominent and attractive position.
In the UK alone, 28 000 lawyers are working in-house today and a high number of external counsel are seconded in-house to their clients, working in a wide variety of sectors, from multinational companies, start-ups, medium-sized businesses and NGOs.
A number of reasons has contributed to this change in employment patterns for lawyers, who traditionally worked in a classic law firm structure from trainee, climbing the ladder towards the ultimate goal of partnership.
However, better working hours which grant people a more stable work-life balance has possibly been a reason for many lawyers when they make the decision to make the move client-side.
Indeed, this is a factor that has been prominent in the discussion as to why we have seen a shift towards an increasing number of in-house lawyers over the last twenty years. However, whilst a perceived better work-life balance is important for many, there are also a number of other factors which have contributed to this shift in increasing career options for lawyers.
In this first part of this two part series, we look at how the role of the in-house lawyer has developed into a role as a real integral part to any business, as well as the factors that encourage talented lawyers to make the leap client-side. In the second part of this series, we take a look at the top 5 developments for in-house lawyers this year.
Part of the action
When working in-house, a successful and collaborative approach would mean that most lawyers are closely aligned with decision makers and are involved in key projects and decisions. For many, this gives lawyers a feeling of being an integral part of the company, allows them to take ownership of processes within the company and take a hands-on approach to the work at hand.
The in-house counsel role means that the lawyer has an intimate understand of the company they work for, the business and the industry. This provides a good understanding of the context the company is operating in and allows the lawyer to add another dimension to the scope of their legal advice. The opportunity to gain supplementary knowledge, besides the pure legal, is highly valued by lawyers and clients alike, since this gives lawyers the overview needed to provide appropriate legal advice.
Development of soft-skills
Having in-house experience means that counsel are required to develop hard and soft skills that are not usually associated with tasks executed by lawyers. The need for media training, doing presentations and training employees has given the in-house role a holistic, flexible, varied and dynamic character.
Career progression
The increased possibility to follow different routes and career paths in a company as an in-house lawyer, when compared to the traditional law firm environment is also attractive for many. There are now possibilities to follow a traditional junior, associate, senior, partner route within a company’s legal team, but other routes such as choosing to go towards a more combined business-lawyer position, into a management position or towards solely a knowledge role has made the in-house position a valued workplace.
Added value
The possibility for companies to have lawyers close to the decisions, the decision-makers, with a wide variety of both hard and soft skills, providing also an overview and intimate understanding of the company and the context it is operating is not only valued by the lawyers itself but also the companies they work for.
The added value that an in-house lawyer can bring to a business is key. On this basis, it is vital that law-firms take note when hiring associates and when considering how their services are offered to clients. It has traditionally been the case that once a lawyer leaves private practice, it can be very hard to then re-integrate a law firm environment from a career perspective after a stint in-house. Here at Gerrish Legal, we do not consider that to be the case.
Indeed, the fact that our team has experience gained in an in-house environment is absolutely key to enable us to provide business focused advice to our clients and also allows us to understand the commercial factors at stake.
As part of this, law firms must adapt in order to remain relevant in our legal market of 2020 and beyond - by providing subscription services, outsourced in-house counsel solutions and by creating long-term day to day relationships with clients, dealing with matters from A to Z.
if you would like more information about how you can support your business with an external in-house counsel service, or if you are an in-house lawyer looking to drive your team forwards for the new year, then look our for our Part 2 of this 2-part series, and please do not hesitate to get in touch to discuss!
Article by Anders Molander Skavlan @ Gerrish Legal, January 2020