FIND THE RIGHT LAWYER FOR YOUR BUSINESS
Bringing legal in-house to cut cost and drive strategic growthA good in-house lawyer will protect your company from liabilities that far exceed their salary. They can maintain stability and drive growth, becoming your “right hand” in assessing complex information and determining a risk appropriate strategy or direction. They ensure regulatory compliance in a climate of heightened corporate governance. They can significantly finesse your external relationships with clients, governments and vendors and can positively impact workplace culture and the management/employee relationship.
The key to a successful legal hire is a) knowing when it makes sense financially and b) balancing the lawyer’s level of involvement with the management team against the current and future legal needs of your company.
In companies where the in-house lawyer has full buy-in from management, their role is to steer towards the safest approach for business projects, avoiding committing resources to a strategy which in time may be abandoned as too high risk.
There are many other benefits to adding a lawyer to your team. In-house counsel can identify areas of risk earlier than management, when there is still a mitigating approach or solution available because its not already “too late.” Once an issue has snowballed, two things happen: less solutions are available and the growing legal cost quickly becomes justified. External counsel engaged in “putting out fires” often charge a significantly higher rate than they would for day-to-day company work.
To answer the question of when to hire an in-house lawyer, here are some basic criteria to consider:
- Your external legal costs exceed $500,000
- Your sales exceed $8 million and/or you have more than 200 employees
- You are considering going public
- You are growing your workforce significantly
- You are facing an on-going lengthy legal dispute
- You buy or lease multiple properties,
- You are in a heavily regulated industry
- You deal with a high volume of commercial contracts
- You are buying, selling, developing or licensing Intellectual Property
- You are considering doing something you know will be advisor-attentive
Who to hire?
Legal counsel who have acquired excellent training with a reputable law firm and have previous/current inhouse experience, will already be accustomed to working closely with management and external counsel. A good GC will have strong, relevant industry experience and understand the commercial needs of a competitive business trying to stay ahead of fast-changing markets. They will be able to adapt quickly and find workable business solutions within the budget. If salary constraints are an issue, consider hiring someone who can grow into the GC role rather than just hiring a lawyer to do the transactional work. Look for that potential during the first round interview stage. The right GC (like your CFO) is your trusted advisor, someone with a critical perspective whom you can use as a sounding board and rely on to steer you to safety.
Edge consultants look beyond legal, management and industry experience, to gain a deeper understanding of each candidate’s character, decision-making abilities, agility and workstyle. We look for lawyers with a strong business orientation, a willingness to learn all aspects of your business and your management team – especially what motivates them – as well as the ability to weigh the risks and make sound, if difficult, judgement calls. The right candidate will be able to put your decisions into the business and legal contexts, while staying true to your ethics and core values. We can help you find that person.
Connect with our experts for a confidential discussion.