The transition from firm life to an in-house role can be a time of confusion.

But William Kruse is here to help. The author of “The Corporate Counsel Survival Guide,” a new book, has worked in-house at Gallup Inc. for more than seven years and serves as the global management consulting company's regulatory compliance officer and vice president, law and counsel.

Kruse speaks and writes from experience. He came to Gallup from law firm Holland, Groves, Schneller & Stolze. It was his first in-house role, and the transition process was full of questions.

Corporate Counsel spoke with Kruse about his new book, which hits Amazon in February 2019 and is already available via the American Bar Association. The Gallup attorney also shared his practical advice for lawyers making the transition he once navigated. This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Corporate Counsel: What inspired “The Corporate Counsel Survival Guide”?

William Kruse: A few things. One was my own transition in-house. You leave a law firm and you come into an in-house position and it's very different. Then, a couple years into practice in-house at Gallup, an outside counsel friend decided she was going to take an in-house counsel position. She started peppering me with the same questions I had when I moved in-house and we joked about there not being a survival guide for this transition. And then I joked I would write one.

The general counsel, Steven O'Brien, at Gallup has published four novels, it's a hobby of his, and my wife has always said I should also write a book. Between the goading of my wife, the inspiration of my boss and the joking of my friend going in-house, they pushed me onto this precipice. I'm also pretty active in my bar organization and they're always looking for authors. It was one of those moments where you accidentally raise your hand and say 'Yeah sure, I'll do it.' They approached me, I said sure, and then I was on the hook. It was a great experience.

How did you balance writing with the demands of an in-house job?

I carried around a notebook and I jotted down any idea, whether it turned out to be nothing or a total gem. Something would hit me and I'd take a minute to write one or two sentences of the thought, so I wouldn't forget it later.

When it came time to write, I do a lot of long haul flights for Gallup, and there are times where I might be traveling for 14 or 36 hours at a time. It can be very hard to work on some of those flights, but it's easy to write. So I would open my notebook, check off two or three of the topics, and just write. Similarly, at night if I got all my work done and was relaxing, instead of channel surfing I would look at my notebook and pick one of the topics that was interesting for me and write on it.

What's one piece of advice you have for in-house lawyers starting out?

Be careful in the first 100 days. There are a lot of things that, when you move to being in-house counsel, you're not prepared for in those first three months. You don't know a lot about how a company operates, who the players are, the issues that are hot and ongoing, the internal struggles between departments that you're immediately going to get thrust into.

The gut reaction for a lot of us, in our confidence, is to walk in and immediately start trying to help. We feel like we know what is going on and want to immediately take action, but that can be a mistake. Sometimes it's good to hold off and get a lay of the land. Take it all in and learn what is best for your ultimate client, the company.

How do you get a lay of the land?

Two things: Crash as many meetings as you can, even if you're not invited. And don't be afraid to break things.

When it comes to the meetings, it can be a little off-putting at first. But if people know you're there to help and not to tell them “no,” and you just show up, introduce yourself and say you are there to figure out what's going on in the company, you're gaining huge insights into everything. That's how you get real understanding of what's going on—not sitting in your office. You will not learn anything sitting in your office with your door closed.

With “don't be afraid to break things”—as new in-house counsel, there can be a hesitancy to do some things or make some calls. Find a senior in-house counsel who you trust and who trusts you, and say, “I'm going to make some calls, I'm going to go experiment and look into things I can help fix.”

And if you feel like you've broken something, be honest enough to come to the senior counsel above you and say what you did. Have trust in that senior counsel to take the reins and put things back together. There are very few things in a company that can't be fixed as long as there is trust, honesty and communication in the legal team.

Did you speak with other in-house lawyers for the book, or is it based off of your own experience?

A lot of it is my own experience, but there are also words of wisdom passed on by my boss, who has spent 25 years as in-house counsel, and things from after-work discussions with my friends and colleagues.

I had been chairing the corporate counsel committee for the ABA tort trial and insurance practice section, and had a great opportunity to be surrounded by great corporate counsel who would pass along great information, great wisdom, stories, things they had seen. A lot of those made it into the book as well.

What are some of the biggest changes and challenges lawyers face when they move in-house?

Some of it is not understanding the difference in your role. When you are outside counsel, there's always a new client, new issue or a big issue for the same client. You get a certain satisfaction out of solving problems, and the bigger the problem, the bigger the resolution.

You need a certain level of challenge arising in order to feel job satisfaction and to feel engaged as outside counsel. When you go in-house, those feelings are in conflict, because what you really want is no problems for your client. Your ultimate goal for the client is: everything is going smoothly, there are no investigations, no employment law problems, every deal goes smoothly.

One chapter is called “The Biggest Challenge May Be a Year Without a Crisis,” and that's because you start to feel you aren't needed. You have to find a way to learn, grow as a professional, stay relevant, help the company and find things that are challenging to you professionally, but also are in the best interest of the company. The company can't always be facing critical issues that you're going to save the day on, or the company is not in a good place.

That's hard for an outside counsel who is used to being the star of the show. When you move in-house, it's not all about the lawyer. You become the support system, and that's an interesting transition for people.