Clients Want Business Advice
As in-house leaders, you are tasked with being a strategic business asset for your organization. If external counsel are to support you effectively in this, they will need to provide business advice in a very focused way, directly tailored to your problem.
March 12, 2021 at 06:06 AM
4 minute read
As in-house leaders, you are tasked with being a strategic business asset for your organization. If external counsel are to support you effectively in this, they will need to provide business advice in a very focused way, directly tailored to your problem. Law firm partners will therefore need to understand not just your industry, but your business strategy and organizational risk appetite. From that standpoint they will often need to lay out options, highlight risks and benefits, and yes, sometimes make recommendations. That's what actionable, commercial advice looks like. It is advice you can bring to your Board or any stakeholder, and it's what makes your outside counsel a true business partner.
GC Voice
- "Talk about the business objective first and secondly how that legal solution can fit best with that objective. Success happens where legal solution and business objective are either seamlessly integrated or at least complementary." — Jay Grant, EVP, General Counsel at Univision Digital & News, U.S
- "The firm that understands our business better with each increasing assignment and provides more practical and efficient solutions with each engagement becomes a go-to firm. As the good firms' attorneys go down the learning curve they become more like in-house partners rather than distant advisors." — Jay Grant, EVP, General Counsel, Univision Digital & News, U.S.
- "1. Make me (including my team) look good; 2. Understand me and my company including industry dynamics, business cycle and objectives; 3. Talk the language of my company and industry sector; 4. Show that the relationship is mutually beneficial." — Andrew Garard, Group General Counsel & Director of Corporate Affairs, Meggitt
- "Be interested in and know our business. Find out what our mission is, what our priorities and constraints are, and what challenges we face. Read our public material. We want you to be an extension of our in house team. If you think we haven't asked you quite the right question, or haven't asked you enough questions – tell us. Read relevant press and alert us to issues or legislative changes that you think might affect us so that you can anticipate our needs. Be our trusted adviser, not just our lawyer." — Shanika Amarasekara, General Counsel & Company Secretary, British Business Bank
Lean Adviser Voice
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