THE LARGEST COLLECTION OF LEGAL JOBS ON EARTH
LawCrossing General Counsel Consulting Career Feature
You Are Nothing More Than another Corporate Employee – Take It or Leave It Gone are the days when corporations went out of their way to retain in-house counsel and allow them special privileges from the fear of losing valuable resources. In the post-recession era, the attitudes of corporations have undergone a sea-change towards in-house counsels who are increasingly viewed at par with employees of other business units within a corporation – expendable and replaceable. However, the in-house counsel continues to hold that s/he is special and thus above ‘regular’ treatment, until the letter of termination arrives.
A part of the blame can be attributed to our legal
The pressure on the in-house counsel is becoming
education system where few law schools focus on in-
greater than that of an attorney engaged in a law firm.
house counsel ethics and mindset, but focus solely on a
You need to wear multiple hats at once, play the lawyer
future in law firms or solo practice. The ‘dignity of the
and the compliance officer from the same chair, and
profession’ and the need of a professional attorney to
then you need to attend board meetings and have to
hold to high standards of ethics rarely match the reality
answer to management and shareholders. It’s no more
inside multinational corporations.
a sheltered life that many would like to think, and definitely not if you intend to grow and be at the top of
As expressed by Stephen Kaplan, general counsel for
corporate rungs.
Connextions at the Value Challenge conference held by the Georgia chapter of the Association of Corporate
There are also challenges in dealing with outside law
Counsel at Sutherland Asbill & Brennan, in-house
firms, where there may be elements out to undermine
counsel like to think that we are special, but corporate
you and emphasize their expertise to their client, but
CFOs and top managers are increasingly viewing the
to someone who is your employer. For the in-house
legal department as just another business unit. Kaplan
counsel it becomes essential to fit in with external
is the president of ACC’s central Florida chapter.
firms and build a relationship of trust without affecting the trust the employer places on him/her. And it is
And it’s not only the lot of in-house counsel, law firms
becoming tougher by the day when litigation matters
are also affected by the same calibration. According
are broken down into ‘tasks’ and values assigned to
to Kaplan, while in-house counsels are viewed as part
each task. You are just another cog in the machinery,
of business teams, outside law firms are now seen as
take it, or leave it.
‘vendors.’
PAGE
www.lawcrossing.com