How do you cultivate in-house lawyers so that they become

business leaders?

On 3 October 2013, 50 senior in-house counsel discussed measuring value at a LexisNexis World Café event,

hosted at Wragge & Co.

The following is a brief summary of the key insights that emerged.

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Business Lawyers to Business Leaders

Challenges

Poor perception at board level – being seen as “just lawyers”, or “compliance watchdogs”. Poor perception among commercial colleagues – a brake, rather than a catalyst, on business.

In-house lawyers are often not involved in projects early on so that they can contribute, add value and mitigate against risk from the start.

One person mentioned legal as being perceived as “anti-value proposition”.

Solutions

Produce training for the business, enabling a self-serve culture as far as possible. For example, one delegate had set up “Dos and don’ts of contracts” training – allowing sales to do as much as possible without legal involvement. This also helps the legal function work more effectively as a department.

“Own the outcome, not just the advice”.

Publish an annual report – one delegate found this a useful way to convey the value added by the legal team.

Use customer feedback surveys – this puts legal in the public eye and exposes issues that need to be addressed.

Implement change from the “bottom up” as well as the “top down”. It should be implemented at board level – but everyone should want to be closer to legal.

How do you ensure that the legal team is integral to the value proposition of the business?

Quotes from the café:

“Actually we aren’t under pressure to show the business what we contribute – but we do it anyway.”

“We want people to come to us because they want to, not because they need a lawyer to rubber stamp something.”

(From a delegate’s senior business colleague): “We have only had a legal team since 2009 but every day I remember why we created one.”

(From a delegate’s senior business colleague): “The legal team is a business prevention unit and we just bring things to them to rubber stamp.”

What is the value proposition of the business?

There was a spectrum of understanding about what “value proposition” meant; and how legal might relate to it.

Articulate what value your business delivers to its customers. How does the legal team contribute to this?

Use this as a basis for demonstrating the value of legal to the business.

Consider ways in which the legal team’s contribution might impact the bottom line (financial); but also other areas where legal plays a key role (such as integrity and reputation).

Once you have identified the value proposition, the next challenge is measuring and demonstrating your contribution to it.

Many delegates were under pressure from the FD / CEO to do this.

It can be difficult to produce metrics on the true value of in-house performance – for example data that captures the extent to which legal is stretched across the business, or the full impact of an in-house lawyer across many projects.

Establish a KPI / metrics programme that is linked to your understanding of the contribution of legal to the business value proposition. For example, if your business prioritises speedy customer service, measure how long legal takes to fulfil its part of the the process; and report on metrics such as the number of contracts turned around in 24 hours, 2 days, or 5 days.

Try not to over-complicate any metrics initiative – often good enough is good enough.

Develop relationships, and talk to the business about successes and deals legal has helped close.

Consider identifying work that should be pushed back to the business, allowing legal to add more value.

Cultural barriers can prevent lawyers from properly integrating with the business. Lawyers can be poorly connected to business colleagues – sometimes this can be simply a result of different backgrounds or a lack of commonality.

Make sure in-house lawyers are aware of their own biases and cultural awareness.

Become involved in institutional diversity and inclusion efforts – this is a good way to integrate the legal team into the wider business.

Think about whether secondments into business units, or shadowing business colleagues, would be workable.

Language is a key barrier to communication and integration.

Lawyers come from a world that has a different vocabulary to other functions in the business.

If necessary, invest time in learning and using business vocabulary and becoming more numerate.

Become comfortable communicating using powerpoint and spreadsheets rather than lengthy documents.

What are the skills you need to be an in-house lawyer and how might it change?Quotes from the café:

“Why do we call these ‘non-legal’ skills?”

“Leadership means different things to different people – but why should it be any different for legal than it is for finance, or marketing?”

“In-house lawyers shouldn’t see themselves as belonging to a single function – they should be seen as members of four or five business teams.”

Skill-set Key comments from the World Café

Adaptability Be open to change. Push yourself and your team into the business – exposing yourself to new

commercial experiences.

You don’t need to stop being an in-house lawyer in order to become a business leader.

Commercial knowledge Know your sector, the motivations of your business, your products and the needs of your customers inside out.

Understand the future of your business and where legal needs to change to contribute.

Influence Learn how best to persuade business colleagues, sell ideas, or become a “devil’s advocate”.

Learn how best to say no – without just saying “no”. That is, position practical alternative courses of action where possible.

Understand how to build a profile and share your team’s successes within the business.

Communication skills Can be as simple as learning to communicate with powerpoint or excel instead of word.

Understand numbers so that you can truly get to grips with commercial drivers and communicate value to the rest of the business.

Build trusting relationships quickly; for example, try investing time in informal meetings or coffees; support commercial colleagues’ ideas; set deadlines and deliver on your promises.

How do you develop in-house lawyers?Quotes from the café:

“This is about more than going on a management course.”

“I don’t think there’s a one-size fits all approach to this.”

“Having a senior lawyer from another business as a mentor has been invaluable.”

Recruitment and induction

• Identify individuals with the right capabilities – focus on personality and fit during recruitment, (without, of course, neglecting to test essential technical skills), and consider inviting business colleagues to interviews.

• If possible, introduce new recruits to senior business stakeholders, personally and face-to-face.

On-going development

• Push your team out into the business:

o Shadow business colleagues

o Physically locate the legal team among the business

o Second lawyers to the business

o Ask lawyers to undertake sales training with sales colleagues

• Remember the “what’s in it for me” for reluctant lawyers – link training to opportunities; if not for promotion, then for material CV enhancements.

• Think about lawyers as “products” of your business – like other products they need investment in order to develop. Construct a business case from this starting point.

• Include those who are motivated just by being a very good lawyer, and who want to be identified as adding value to the business, while not necessarily aiming to be a leader of the business.

• Think about how to involve your team in mentoring programmes – both internally (within the legal team or across the business) or externally (the objectivity of a mentor outside your business is valuable).

• Push external law firms to do more to deliver training that is aligned with the development of business leaders. For example, some firms now offer training on financial basics.

• Don’t neglect training “on the job”. Pushing your team to become involved in projects that will require them to learn in “the heat of the fire” can be rewarding.

RELATED CONTENTLexis In-house Advisory Board notes

Personal development for in-house lawyers – building business leadersUnlocking your emotional intelligenceIdentifying and nurturing valueMeasuring the in-house legal team

Previous Lexis In-house World Café materials

Measuring the value of an in-house legal team

Research paper

When being a good lawyer is not enough (produced in partnership with Cranfield University School of Management)

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