In this blog, we look at how senior corporate counsel approach legal team management. We also include a useful checklist and set of interview questions for in-house lawyer recruitment.
This blog aims to offer practical pointers for corporate counsel based on the experience of GCs and other senior in-house lawyers. Today, we consider how senior corporate counsel approach team management, and specifically recruitment of in-house counsel.
We are grateful for contributions from:
You are recruiting a new member to your in-house legal team, and are preparing for the interview. Perhaps you have a tried and tested method for picking the right team member, or this is your first recruit.
Either way, the stakes are high - get it right, and morale, efficiency and quality will improve across the whole team, but get it wrong and the impact could be magnified in the other direction.
In-house lawyers have a unique skill set that differs from attorneys in private practice - they need to be commercial, quick thinking, legally sound and confident, but with an ability to balance risk management with commercial imperatives.
There is no room for passengers on this bus.
How can you be sure you have found the in-house lawyer who will fit into your team and your business?
Here we set out 10 criteria to explore with your candidate and provide examples of the questions you can ask to understand whether your candidate fits.
Note that there is no single ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ answer to these questions and what constitutes the right ‘fit’ will be different from organisation to organisation.
By asking the kind of open questions we have listed, you gain insight into the candidate’s style, preferences and ways of working, which helps you make a balanced assessment of their suitability. Use our 10-point checklist below to help you get started.
A person with the right legal experience and skillset is the first checkpoint. It is unlikely that a candidate without these skills will be presented to you for interview unless this box has already been checked, but verification that this person can do the work at the level you require is still important.
Questions to ask:
Technical skills and experience do not necessarily result in finding the right path through a difficult problem. It is essential that in-house lawyers identify how something can be done to further the strategic goals of the company, not simply whether it can be done. A team member with a problem-solving approach will work well with the business to find the right path whilst keeping risk under control.
Questions to ask:
Learning agility and the ability to seek out answers is critical to identifying first the problem and then the appropriate legal and commercial solution. Team members who know how to keep an open mind, ask the right questions and are more likely to get to the right solution.
Questions to ask:
The speed and volume of work in an in-house legal setting requires team members to be able to work independently and without constant supervision. A General Counsel or senior legal manager needs to be able to delegate work and know that their team member will be able to move forward independently.
Questions to ask:
Understanding risk – both legal and commercial – and balancing this risk is essential to being an effective in-house counsel. Finding individuals who have the ability to confidently assess these risks, weigh them against each other and find an appropriate solution is invaluable.
Questions to ask:
Working independently to resolve issues efficiently is only valuable where you are confident that your team member will also escalate the issue if they have any concerns. The ability to make that judgement call is important.
Questions to ask:
Being able to communicate complex legal ideas and requirements to others in the team and/or people without legal training is essential. Most in-house teams are looking for counsel who are persuasive and robust in their opinion but use context and empathy to express that in a way that the business can support.
Questions to ask:
It is important that the lawyers are on the same team as their commercial colleagues. Ultimately, everybody is working together to achieve the strategic goals of the company. For that reason, a person who is fundamentally interested in the business and in the achievement of those goals will work toward achieving them more passionately.
Questions to ask:
Exceptional teams are those that work well together. As one of our contributors said, where one member of the team “works negatively against the others, it can have a dramatic effect on morale, productivity and enjoyment”. So, simply ensuring that team members can get along is essential.
Questions to ask:
It’s important that you and the candidate are clear about your expectations of salary, reward package and future career prospects. Understand how your candidate views this role, how it matches their expectations and how their future plans sit relative to your company’s own capabilities to meet them.
Questions to ask:
Jodie is the Founder & CEO of Xakia Technologies, and is passionate about providing in-house teams with the legal workspace they need to operate at an optimal level.
Katherine loves helping in-house teams and law firms thrive in exciting times. As a consultant, speaker and coach, she combines strategy with action to create change that sticks.
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