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LawCrossing General Counsel Consulting Career Feature
Legal Risk Management: A Quick Overview There’s a lot of research and literature out there on risk management and business risk management but documents on legal risk management are relatively few. Sometimes a degree of vagueness exists between what in-house lawyers see as legal risk management and what part of risk management the stakeholders of a business believe an in-house lawyer should be handling. And sometimes, a surfeit of principles, strategies, and philosophies gained from law school that do not match in-house lawyer realities can affect decisions and situations. This article is a quick primer on what most in-house lawyers see as ‘legal risk management’ and how they broadly tackle their responsibilities.
While ‘contributions’ make an in-house counsel dearer
to the business, and ignoring their advice is a
to the hearts of a business management, the primary
recipe to doom. The first task is to learn about
and overwhelming responsibility of a corporate counsel
those legal risks which have already been identi-
is still that of a ‘fireman.’ So, legal risk management
fied before you walked in.
remains the functional core of a general corporate
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counsel.
Compliance Documentation: Without any doubt, compliance documentation plays the most significant role in the responsibilities of a general
Normally, there are a few things experienced general
corporate counsel. This is also one of the areas
corporate counsels do upon joining a new company:
where the opinion of an in-house counsel would be given the highest importance and where an
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Begin and complete a legal audit: All key
in-house counsel can make positive and visible
activities of a business, the methods and con-
impact. So, getting hands on all existing compli-
sequences of everyday business processes and
ance documents and working through them is
activities of stakeholders and their objectives
one of the first jobs of an in-house counsel
need thorough assessment. The corporate coun-
•
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Check the Operations: Everyday operations of
sel needs to work with the management team to
a business require highest degree of legal risk
prioritize and streamline business processes and
management, because the greatest amount of
documentation and analyze the legal require-
unseen or unanticipated risks occurs in this area.
ments that need to be maintained or put in place
Brand protection, pending litigation, notices,
Reach out and find help: Corporate counsels
product liability, HR practice, industry regula-
are expected to shoulder their own responsibili-
tions, most regular functions in legal risk man-
ties, but they cannot function without being able
agement is related with business operations. To
to educate. Therefore communication with other
understand processes one has to establish rela-
key operatives is essential. If legal risks are not
tionships with experts and try to gel in as part of
strongly communicated, they cannot be man-
the tem. Mostly, talking to a lawyer is seen as a
aged. And the counsel cannot do it all by himself
formal affair by employees and unless they ‘open
or herself. Legal risk awareness training sessions
up’ you would never learn of the risks.
are a must as are ‘legal education’ from stake-
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holders. Too often, top operatives are acutely
While previous corporate attitudes towards legal risk
aware of legal risks and responsibilities related
management saw the in-house lawyer as a fireman
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