Becoming a High-Impact Commercial Lawyer

Any lawyer who’s made the leap from private practice to in-house law will know the challenges that comes with the transition. While the two roles might seem similar at first glance, the reality is that an in-house lawyer faces a distinct set of demands that require a completely different approach.

So, what does it take to be a high impact, commercial lawyer and team leader? We’re covering the key attributes required to succeed.

Watch our webcast Beyond Legal: What it really means to be a ‘commercial’ in-house lawyer here

The Fundamental Difference: Private Practice vs In-House Law

In private practice, where lawyers will usually focus on a specific area of law or industry, in-house counsel are deeply embedded in the business and must balance legal expertise with a thorough undersanding of the company’s objectives, strategy and culture.

This shift not only involves a change to the scope of work, but a need to develop a skill set that blends legal proficiency with commercial acumen. In-house lawyers must be proactive problem solvers, managing risk while driving business outcomes and working closely with a myriad of stakeholders. The challenge is not just about being a great lawyer, but becoming a trusted advisor who understands the broader implications of decisions and lead teams to deliver strategic solutions.

Problem Solving to Thrive as an In-House Lawyer

Succeeding as an in-house lawyer means not just having the technical legal skills and experience, but having key ‘commercial’ attributes necessary to work in a fast-paced and ever-changing environment. One of which is the ability to continuously problem solve.

Harrison.ai’s General Counsel and Company Secretary, Jennifer Mulheron believes: “Problem-solving skills are the day-to-day bread and butter of what in-house lawyers do. A lot of what comes across my desk are not specific issues that I’ve seen, let alone solved before, but things that require me to utilise my problem-solving skills to find a path forward”.

Pete Hamblin, Head of Legal at SEEK highlights the importance of being proactive in problem solving: “You’ll need to allocate time for work no one asked you to do. That way you see your role as proactive not reactive to avoid future issues no one else can see yet”.

Adding Critical Value: Laser Focus & Prioritisation

It’s also essential to align problem-solving skills with the objectives of the business, to provide maximum commercial impact.

“What’s definitely critical is understanding your company’s strategic objectives. What does the company actually want to do for the next 12, 18, 24 months? What’s the roadmap?” said Jennifer Mulheron.

Answering these questions can help you to prioritise effectively among endless, competing interests.

Georgie Gane, Law Squared added: “I’ve found that the teams who bring the most value are those who understand the bigger picture and bring a laser focus to where they can add the most value. They build relationships with stakeholders and they work with the business rather than on the business”.

To deeply understand the organisation’s objectives, it’s necessary to build strong relationships with teams. That includes studying the business strategy, aligning with business interests, and asking to sit in on meetings whether they be product, marketing or sales, across the organisation.

Make Data-Driven Decisions & Automate for Efficiency

To have maximum impact, it’s also essential to measure your actions, consider where you can move the dial most for the business and ensure that’s where you spend the majority of your time. That means making data-driven decisions.

Measuring ‘value’ as an in-house lawyer can be challenging, particularly when the goal is often risk avoidance, but there are tools - ranging from sophisticated sentiment tracking or legal tech, to simple solutions such as spreadsheets, time trackers and feedback forms that can be used to understand where time is being spent, and value realised. Developing a deep understanding of the what stakeholders actually see as valuable and how legal time is being spent is critical for delivering credible ROI.

Pete Hamblin said formally measuring success is essential. “You do have to look at data. Find a way to measure, and then re-measure over time. Importantly, what you should be seeing is time spent on the key things that will move the dial”.

With endless competing interests for the in-house lawyer, it’s also important to avoid getting stuck in the weeds. Your team is there to spot issues, solve problems and offer critical advice, not get slowed down by endless admin tasks.

Finding the right legal tech solution that captures data for you, and streamlines manual tasks can prevent you, and your team from getting lost in legal minutia. This helps boost the efficiency and effectiveness of your team.

Powering Your High-Impact Team

Ultimately, successful in-house lawyers focus on problem-solving, effective prioritisation, building strong relationships across the business and proactive ways of working.

As a team leader, it’s essential to choose team members with those core attributes - beyond their technical legal skills and legal experience.

To elevate your legal capabilities, your in-house team may also benefit from a scalable, fixed-cost extension to your team to manage BAU work, such as Law Squared as a Service (LSaaS), which helps legal team’s focus on the high-impact, maximum-value tasks that will move the needle for the organisation.

Explore our LSaaS offering here.