Life as a Junior In-House Lawyer

Surf’s up There are many journeys that one can take in the law and there is no right or wrong path. Since walking into Philips Fox all those years ago, I had no idea that it would lead me to where I am now and working with the incredible people and clients that I do each day. The law is a demanding profession, especially when learning the base-level skills that will make you a valuable asset to your firm. It is vital to ensure that you take control over your own balance during these formative years and build strong routines that will last throughout your career: clock off at a reasonable time, don’t make weekend work a habit and have something else to ground you outside the law. For me, that is getting out for a surf whenever I can. Good luck to you all on your journey through the law wherever it takes you. Feel free to get in touch with us if a career in insurance law sounds like it would suit you. D: +61 8 9222 6909 E: William.Robinson@wottonkearney.com.au

It’s hard to easily capture the life of an in-house lawyer as no two days are the same. It’s a less homogenous experience than life at traditional large law firms. It’s much more dependent on the nature of your organisation. If you work at a global bank, your typical day is likely going to look quite different to your day if you worked as in-house counsel at a tech start-up or for a government department. To provide a general idea of what life is like within in-house legal teams, LOD spoke with a few of its lawyers on secondment. We thought that the easiest way to illuminate the life of in-house lawyers is to paint it in broad brushstrokes that sketch out common activities and advantages. So, here are some things you might expect to experience as an in-house legal professional:

Less handholding There is more autonomy in-house – there is much more ‘up to you’ to solve. A real positive that flows out of this independence is you gain greater experience in a shorter amount of time than law firm work. You are not just expected to get involved in matters; you’re expected to complete them. To do this, you do need a level of legal judgement already developed – this is typically done after graduation via law firm graduate roles and through the College of Law. It’s quite important to have a little bit of background knowledge and experience before moving in-house as you are expected to be able to get on with it.

Closer to the action While commercial negotiation for junior lawyers at law firms is usually a legal-only affair, in-house professionals can expect to negotiate more directly with the commercial experts. You can get down into the nitty-gritty matters with the commercial expert in a way junior lawyers at law firms never could. This more direct negotiation has the added bonus of being a more efficient process with less back and forth as you’re dealing with the end-users of the contract.

See the benefits in the real world One of the key advantages we hear most from our in-house lawyers is that you actually get to see the fruits of your labour. It’s not a view from an ivory tower, it’s an on-the-ground experience. Did you help negotiate the purchase of a marine vessel? You get to see it. Did you help formalise a partnership agreement? In a short amount of time, you can see the benefits of that partnership on the business or organisation. This tangible experience helps boost work satisfaction for many in-house lawyers. Variety is the spice of life In-house life can also be a slightly more unpredictable experience. You can expect more ad hoc requests from across the organisation for a wide range of matters. While this can have its productivity drawbacks, it does make you feel closer to the inner workings of an organisation. This feeling of greater involvement cascades down into higher job satisfaction for many of our in-house lawyers and it also provides a great incentive to work better.

Control the timeframes As the person inside the ‘client’, you are far more in control of timeframes than law firm lawyers. While naturally there will be external demands on you that cannot be controlled (regulatory events, external affairs, commercial negotiations with counterparties) you are much more in control of the timeframes. You can expect to deal with less ‘please do this overnight’ and more ‘please get it done by the end of the week’. This means that your work hours are more predictable and less harsh than private practice. Closer to the subject-matter experts Working from the inside of an organisation means that you often find yourself part of a multidisciplinary team. You work with colleagues from across several different functions and this exposes you to different commercial and technical experts. This rich environment allows you to learn from the subject matter experts that are directly impacted by your legal work. For many of our in-house lawyers, this collaborative way of working is deeply satisfying and broadens their perspective to move beyond purely legal. Conclusion Life as a junior in-house lawyer is a rich experience that often comes without some of the trappings of law firm life. You can work closer to the grindstone and feel more than a small cog in a larger corporate machine. In-house life is a fantastic option that lawyers should start to consider early on in their legal careers.