The In-house Lawyer

Who makes the move In-House?

In my experience lawyers who want to move in-house fall into two camps: the first being the ‘reactive camp’ and the second the ‘proactive camp’. The reactive lawyers are trying to eradicate the parts of their job they do not enjoy. They want to avoid the administration of billable hours, they are bored by the treadmill effect of doing deal after deal. They may also dislike the hierarchical nature of private practice and the uncontrollable long hours.

Lawyers in the second camp take a far more proactive approach. They are often seeking a more commercial role, one that will test both their business acumen as well as their technical ability. They want to understand why commercial decisions are made or not as the case may be. They enjoy working with other professionals and having a varied caseload that means two days are rarely the same.

What do clients look for when recruiting an in-house lawyer?

At the very least, clients will look for three key qualities when recruiting:

1. Technical legal expertise in the discipline(s) they require,
2. Commercial awareness; and
3. A personality to fit in the team and business.

How do you increase your chances of moving in-house?

At the more junior end of the scale, you can expect to make your first move in-house at around eighteen months to five years pqe. A department looking to make a senior appointment will usually prefer to recruit a lawyer who already has experience of working in-house. Most roles for the in-house lawyer will require knowledge of more non contentious ‘commercial’ disciplines including general Commercial Contracts, IP/IT/e-commerce, Construction and PFI. Corporate Finance lawyers will also be desirable as long as they also have an interest in/experience of drafting terms and contracts. AstraZeneca plc, Balfour Beatty plc, United Utilities plc and Isoft plc have recently recruited lawyers in these fields.

There are fewer opportunities for lawyers with Employment law and Commercial Property experience and when a job arises, there is usually a lot of competition. Accordingly you need to register with BCL Legal as early as possible in case your ideal role takes 6 months or longer to surface. Companies in the north that have recruited lawyers in these disciplines in recent months include Pets at Home ltd and AstraZeneca plc.

One part of being an in-house lawyer that can put some people off is that you may be asked to advise on areas of law that you haven’t studied since you were at University. It will be your common sense and commercial knowledge that will guide you through but some lawyers don’t want to be put in this situation. Although you are likely to be reporting into a more senior lawyer, you will, at a very early stage be interacting with a number of other professionals throughout the business and therefore an ability to answer a question quickly and with conviction is essential. As for personality – most in-house lawyers are confident and articulate, down to earth, able to develop good rapport with people at most levels; flexible yet focused.

Is working in-house the better option?

It is obviously a very personal decision. A career in-house can offer a different set of challenges and opportunities to a career in Private Practice.  

After a month in her new position, a lawyer with five years pqe from a top 10 law firm wrote this:

“…. I have definitely made the right move. I have had fact find meetings with various directors and senior managers over the past couple of weeks (and have some scheduled for this week and next) to gain a deeper understanding of the business, what people want from the in-house service and the current projects etc. I have offered to do a business plan/report for the board in the next month setting out aims and targets for the next 6 months, ideas of processes to be implemented and where I think I can add value. It seemed to go down well, which is encouraging.

Overall, I am very impressed with the business and the people – it is dynamic and entrepreneurial and people are keen to have my input, which was just what I was looking for!  I am also impressed with the attitude to flexible working and how well staff are looked after. I probably shouldn’t say this, but to say it compares favourably with my last job would be an understatement – I wonder why anyone still does private practice!

This really seems to be the genuine opportunity I was looking for – many thanks for all your help!”

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