Taren N. (Stanton) Butcher. Allegis Group, Inc Parkway Drive Hanover, MD (410) Keshia L. Rodriguez

Transcription

1 Trading Places: Transitioning from Outside Counsel to In-House Counsel Taren N. (Stanton) Butcher Allegis Group, Inc Parkway Drive Hanover, MD (410) Keshia L. Rodriguez Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores Inc Trillium Blvd., Suite 501 E5-113B Hoffman Estates, IL (847) Gary M. Carter, Jr. Kelly Hart & Pitre 400 Poydras St., Suite 1812 New Orleans, LA (504)

2 Taren N. (Stanton) Butcher is associate general counsel for Allegis Group, Inc. She serves as legal counsel for Aerotek, Inc. She advises business leaders, HR, and compliance partners on an array of workplace issues, including federal and state discrimination laws, internal investigations, wage and hour issues, leave, and noncompete agreements. She also manages outside counsel and defends Aerotek in administrative proceedings and mediations before the EEOC and state and local agencies. Ms. Butcher is currently co-chair of the Local & Specialty Bar Committee of the Maryland State Bar Association and program vice chair of the DRI Diversity for Success Seminar. She is also a board member with the non-profit organization Girls on the Run of the Greater Chesapeake. Keshia L. Rodriguez currently serves as divisional vice president and assistant general counsel for Sears Hometown & Outlet Stores, managing a wide variety of legal issues for the company. She previously practiced in a private, international law firm for seven. Ms. Rodriguez is a dedicated advocate and committed supporter of diversity in the legal profession. She served on the State Bar of Texas Diversity in the Profession Committee from 2010 through 2016 and lead the committee as vicechair in and as chair in She also regularly volunteers her time local schools speaking to groups of diverse students in grades K-12 about choosing careers in the legal profession. Gary M. Carter, Jr. is a partner in Kelly Hart & Pitre s New Orleans office. His practice focuses on general litigation, regulatory matters, and general counsel services. He is a frequent speaker on crisis management, trial strategy, and litigation management. Mr. Carter is also a member of the Louisiana House of Representatives. Elected in October of 2015, he serves on the Appropriations, House and Governmental Affairs and Judiciary Committees. Before joining Kelly Hart & Pitre, Mr. Carter served as senior counsel at Entergy Corporation. He earned his bachelor s degree in Political Science from Xavier University of Louisiana in 1996, and his juris doctorate from Tulane Law School in 2002.

3 Trading Places: Transitioning from Outside Counsel to In-House Counsel Table of Contents I. Introduction...5 II. Learning the Business...5 III. Understanding the Importance of Partnership...5 IV. Internal Networking...5 V. Project Management...6 VI. Truth-in-Worklife Balance...6 VII. Demonstrating Value...6 VIII. Looking Ahead...7 IX. Dress Code and Impressions...7 Trading Places: Transitioning from Outside Counsel to In-House Counsel Butcher et al. 3

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5 Trading Places: Transitioning from Outside Counsel to In-House Counsel I. Introduction You have finally landed that coveted in-house counsel job and are eager to start your new legal career. Before doing so, it is important to take some time to understand how your work life as corporate counsel for a company will be different from than life at a law firm. To be a successful in-house attorney will require one to develop a different set of skills and abilities. Below is some guidance on how to successfully navigate life as corporate counsel. II. Learning the Business A key aspect of your success in-house will be your ability to learn the company s business. As corporate counsel, it will be important in those first few months to take a considerable amount of time to understand the industry your company serves and the areas of law that most greatly impact your company. A great way to immerse oneself in the business is to meet with the executive leadership to understand their role and responsibilities with the company and overall impact to the business. In addition, go on field trips to the local offices or branches to observe the day-to-day business operations. This will give you a better perspective of legal issues that may arise and how to effectively address them. III. Understanding the Importance of Partnership Partnership has a totally different meaning when you go in-house. As corporate counsel, many of your day-to-day tasks will involve working with your business partners to help achieve business goals. Your business partners will be looking to you for legal guidance on issues and how to meet business outcomes while still staying within the parameters of the law. Many times, in-house counsel can be viewed as a bottleneck to progress (or the no department) which may cause some business partners to avoid seeking legal advice on matters. To avoid this from happening, you want to make sure that your business partners views you as an actual partner. That means when issues arise it is important to take time to really understand the business concerns and desired outcomes and collaborative with your business partners to find a solution that addresses the business and legal concerns alike. IV. Internal Networking Establishing strong relationships with your business partners is imperative. Get to know the executives and all of the members of a business unit or department that you support. This can be done by taking them out to lunch, stopping by their office periodically to catch up or even scheduling an in-person meeting rather than a conference call. You would be surprised how much you might learn about a business partner during an informal encounter. Developing strong relationships with your business partners is important because they are usually the most helpful resources when legal issues arise or when you are seeking information to assist in resolving an issue. Also, be sure to participate in all company events. These events will also provide great networking opportunities and give you yet another chance to build relationships with your partners. Trading Places: Transitioning from Outside Counsel to In-House Counsel Butcher et al. 5

6 V. Project Management The pace of the work is much quicker in-house and the number of matters that you will juggle at the same time will be significantly higher than at a law firm. As in-house counsel, you don t simply provide legal advice on an issue and move on to the next. Rather, in-house attorneys must provide legal advice and counsel and also ensure that the business clients implement any specific changes or compliance measures recommended. Moreover, in-house attorneys often receive numerous requests from various business units in one day that will require their attention. Being able quickly and effectively respond requires strong project management skills. Your calendar will be your best friend as you try to schedule meetings with your various business partners to discuss upcoming projects and resolve issues that arise. But remember to be flexible with your schedule. There will be times when you come to work prepared to complete certain tasks and that plan gets derailed because an emergency issues arises that requires your attention. VI. Truth-in-Worklife Balance There is a long-standing myth that in-house counsel work less hours than attorneys in law firms. That myth is totally false. The hours worked are comparable to that of attorneys in private practice and may even include some nights and weekends. A typical day is usually filled with client meetings with members of management or entire business teams, which may leave little time to actually perform the legal work needed such as drafting a contract, responding to an attorney demand or researching a legal issue. Many corporate clients seek legal advice and counsel on very short timelines, and often with a sense of immediate urgency, so in-house counsel have to quickly learn to decipher the true priority of competing client requests. The promptness of response time is also equally important. There may be instances when legal services needed are highly complex or laborious, but there is insufficient time to retain counsel (due to the sometimes lengthy conflicts check process). As a result, in-house counsel must quickly learn to decipher which client s work is most pressing and also identify the most efficient way to get the work done, even if it means performing the work yourself. The average work day and work week is highly concentrated with to-dos and equates to the same number of hours billed by law firm attorneys. In sum, in-house counsel workflow is different, but definitely not less, than in a law firm environment. VII. Demonstrating Value One of the biggest surprises to serving as in-house counsel is that despite how invaluable we view ourselves and service to the company, all legal departments are viewed as cost centers and not sources of revenue. In a law firm, associates and partners bill by the hour and more time billed equals more revenue for the firm. However, the same is not true for in-house counsel. Ordinarily, no matter how much time is spent working on a particular matter internally, no revenue is generated for the company. The avoidance of a potential loss contingency is not met with the same enthusiasm as earning a million dollars in revenue. Therefore, it is helpful for in-house counsel to provide memorandums to their clients to demonstrate cost savings when a project is concluded or a particular result is achieved. Additionally, although there is no billable hour requirement, keeping track of your time can provide good data to comparatively demonstrate costs saved if the same work were performed by outside counsel. Other examples of areas that in-house counsel can analyze to demonstrate cost-savings to the company are (i) settling a lawsuit versus estimated outside counsel fees through trial; (ii) implementation of compliance measures that cost the company money versus a competitor hit with a liability that the measure was designed to avoid; (iii) last overall year s legal spend versus this year; or (iv) 6 Diversity for Success June 2017

7 cost of subscription services used in legal department operations versus that of paying outside vendors or law firms for the same work. VIII. Looking Ahead In-house counsel must constantly monitor business trends to spot future legal issues that relate to all aspects of the business, and sometimes at your own expense. Outside counsel seeking to obtain business from in-house counsel may tend to send legal updates on issues that your company is already facing or faced in the past. However, it is also helpful to monitor issues your company has not yet faced. As in-house counsel, you have a front row seat to new initiatives and should be the first to know and get ahead of any legal issues before they arise. It is also helpful to regularly monitor initiatives and legal issues of your company s competitors for the same purpose. Although companies may not cover the cost of subscriptions of legal or industry resources for in-house counsel as law firms do for their attorneys, there are a variety of other free and insightful resources available such as law firm newsletters, government agency announcements and mainstream news sources. IX. Dress Code and Impressions Business casual dress code in corporate offices may be tempting, but a daily practice of dressing down can potentially impact the perception of your professionalism. In-house counsel have the opportunity to work with executive level management directly, and their opinion of you as a trusted professional may begin with a visual perception. Therefore, it is important that in-house counsel present the same level of client service that would be given in a law firm environment. Looking the part can help to ensure that you are viewed as a professional and taken seriously. Consequently, your professional appearance can provide positive impressions that shape your future growth and career opportunities. Trading Places: Transitioning from Outside Counsel to In-House Counsel Butcher et al. 7

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