The Global In-House Counsel: What's Different?

Editor’s note: This column is the first of a regular feature called Global In-House. We know that many of our readers are players on the global legal stage, and their companies operate around the world. So Corporate Counsel, both here online and in print, is extending its reach to address a global audience of corporate counsel. Dance, as a consultant to lawyers around the globe, is uniquely placed to share her insights about what it means to be a modern global in-house lawyer.

A poll this fall of senior global in-house counsel in the U.S., Middle East, and a few in Europe, came up with surprisingly consistent responses on skills needed to lead and manage their jobs. The findings demonstrated once again that in-house counsel in strikingly different companies and cultures often face very similar challenges.

The multinational in-house counsel surveyed were given 14 leadership skills to rank in ‘importance for their job.’ Regardless of their location, they agreed that most important is “influence and partnering skills,” or the ability to build relationships with key stakeholders and others. Second most important is “problem solving and ability to turn difficult situations around.” Sound familiar?

To the question, “which of these 12 management skills do you most want to focus on?” the top response is “protect my time so I can think through important issues and decisions.” A close second, again consistently from DC to Dubai, was “set and keep priorities; manage my time and resource allocation.”

From Detroit to Dubai and Almaty to Atlanta

Setting aside for a moment the implications of the findings, inquiring minds ask: Since there’s so much in common among in-house counsel everywhere, is the domestic in-house counsel job really so different from the global in-house counsel job?

The overarching issues are remarkably similar, but yes! The difference is in the detail. The way that global in-house counsel address issues often requires a range and layering of skills that may not as often be used in domestic roles. Many of these skills are becoming more important to all in-house counsel, as your companies are increasingly active across borders.

First, the global in-house counsel provides services across diverse cultures with different legal and regulatory structures, and distinctive business practices: more factors are at play. To advise on corporate activities crossing more than a few jurisdictions, the in-house lawyer must be able to recognize trends and developments in foreign markets’ economics, culture and politics. These are the issues that often spark new legal risks and regulatory actions.

More factors at play create more complex counselling

In high-growth markets overseas, for example, there lack of reliable information and other unknowns make it harder to advise on business decisions. It’s relatively riskier, from a legal and compliance perspective, to expand into these markets—especially when it comes to third-party relationships. Beyond recognition of legal danger zones, the global in-house counsel must be able to effectively synthesize and communicate both the issue and its impact to stakeholders. And these stakeholders likely speak different languages and come from widely varied regulatory regimes.

Your internal clients all within a 10-hour flight

The global in-house counsel’s team is often far flung and frequently addresses issues at a distance. At any given time, it’s typical for a global in-house lawyer that neither her manager, subordinates nor her internal clients are in the same location or time zone. With local markets and cultures that can be poles apart (think Almaty and Atlanta, for example), in-house counsel often have a harder time gaining necessary information and insights. It’s like coaching a baseball game without being on the field. A regional legal manager in Singapore with a team in a half-dozen countries usually needs to invest far more time and effort to gain direct insight into each individual’s work quality and engagement on the job.

Chief editor Anthony Paonita will tell you that this is why Corporate Counsel invited me to contribute frequently on The Global In-house Counsel. Through data, war stories, practical tips and global in-house counsel profiles, there’s plenty to gain from the experience of other corporate legal functions. This has been the focus of my practice for 15 years, and the theme of more than a few articles on this site. I hope to share useful knowledge so you avoid re-inventing the wheel.