In-House Legal Counsel
In-house legal roles require an ability to navigate the organizational dynamics of corporate legal departments and understand the business more intimately and completely than outside counsel.
Whether you move from a law firm environment or go in-house directly from law school, there are necessary skills you didn’t learn in law school or from your previous training that can accelerate your progress and expertise.
For example, you may think your days of networking, marketing and sales are over, but many in-house jobs require these essential skills to push ideas forward, gain buy-in for initiatives, and advocate for budget, funding, and outside counsel spend.
Leadership and management are not inherent skills for many lawyers and the flat structure of law firms can leave you unprepared to position yourself for promotions. You will find the skills that got you there are not the same as those you’ll need to be successful.
Coaching can fill the gap between your formal education and what is now being asked of you. Through coaching, you can develop these key leadership assets:
- Serving a client that now employs you
- Decision-making
- Finding champions and sponsors
- Relationship-building
- Persuading and influencing
- Delegation
- Giving and receiving feedback in a constructive way
- Managing up and managing down
- Emotional intelligence
- Communication skills
- Self-confidence