A panel of experts at the Legal Week Corporate Counsel Forum Africa in Johannesburg discussed how in-house lawyers can become valued problem solvers within a business

Stephen Hopkins, head of global client development, Eversheds: What makes a great in-house lawyer?

Lynelle Bagwandeen, group company secretary and general counsel, Netcare, South Africa: A critical element is having a thorough knowledge of the business. If you aren't aware of how the business operates you are never going to add value. It is also important to participate in the key governance committees – risk, audit and at board level. You must have good corporate finance or financial knowledge to contribute meaningfully and your advice must be pitched in a digestible fashion. This is a skill many lawyers struggle with, but they have to learn it because clients don't want to be bogged down with too much information. They want a clear idea of what they can and can't do along with practical solutions.

Dayo Okusami, group general counsel and company secretary, Atlantic Energy, Nigeria: It is essential at general counsel level to have access to the chief executive, and I mean easy access – you need to be able to knock on the door rather than have to arrange a meeting for the following week.

Hopkins: That involvement and engagement is very important and I don't think everybody has that. If you haven't got that access, how do you go about getting it?

Josie Lyon, group legal director, Protea Hotels, South Africa: First, you've got to pick your companies carefully and do the initial due diligence before you join. You need to figure out where the legal department sits. Is it just seen as an administrative department where you are paper pushing in the corner and you are not involved in the business? I have been fortunate in that I have worked at organisations that have strong legal departments that are seen as front and centre and where the lawyers are brought in early.

Hopkins: So the first practical tip is that you may be in the wrong company and that you are going to have to move. Suppose you are in an organisation that does regard legal highly but you are not quite there. What are some practical ways of building relationships?

Bagwandeen: It is important to make yourself accessible. You have to be available for the mundane queries through to the most complicated ones, and ensure you give people who come to you attention and make sure they feel important. This provides you with a building block, because you come to be regarded as a problem solver.

Hopkins: But you must get lots of enquiries. Do you prioritise the more senior people?

Okusami: When I first went in-house having been in private practice, I wanted to do everything. Then one day my CEO called me with a question and I asked him to hang on as I was working on an opinion. He said: "Why as GC are you doing something so mundane? Give it to someone more junior or hive it out. I need executive committee-level people to have 50% of their capacity free for strategy. I already know your competency; you don't need to prove it to me." That was a valuable lesson.

Hopkins: Prioritisation and planning is clearly going to be critical because you can get completely enveloped in the day-to-day activities. What other ways can GCs become trusted advisers?

Lyon: It isn't enough to just be a great lawyer – you've got to be liked and respected, you've got to be impartial and you've got to keep things in complete confidentiality. It takes years to get there. At the beginning, when you join from private practice you are a technically competent lawyer. Then you build on that as you gain knowledge of the business. And, as you go up the ladder, you become more strategic. Throughout this process it is crucial to build relationships, including setting aside time to take business unit heads out for coffee or lunch. Slowly the barriers are broken down and they realise you are part of the team.

Okusami: In the oil and gas space in Nigeria negotiations can get very tough. The CEO appreciated that on several occasions I have gone 'all out' for the company – he values the fact that I don't let it go. So I think you also have to prove yourself in battle. If they like you, that isn't going to be enough on its own.

L-R: Josie Lyon, Protea Hotels, Lynelle Bagwandeen, Netcare, and
Dayo Okusami, Atlantic Energy

Hopkins: How does the style of communication help GCs become trusted advisers?

Bagwandeen: My favourite word is precis. When I receive an opinion from external counsel it is usually a 50-page analysis with an indecisive conclusion. The business isn't going to be able to digest that. You may still have to have that document on file for your reference, but when you communicate the advice internally it has to be in a simple paragraph or two with a practical solution or an alternate course of action. So less is more. It is important to communicate in a decisive, simple way that gets to the conclusion quickly and is accompanied by clear-cut practical alternatives.

Lyon: One of my favourite expressions is 'if I had more time I'd write a shorter letter'. Cut the waffle and cut the Latin. The skill great GCs and private practice lawyers bring to the table is the ability to unpack the law and communicate it in a way that the layman understands. Lawyers are past masters at hiding behind big words and Latin. It is much more impressive as a lawyer to communicate in a simple way. I think law firms in South Africa have a tendency to hide behind long, waffly answers. I have relationships with a lot of firms there and I challenge the partners to put the customer first, as we do in the consumer sector, and stop just rolling out 10-page opinions accompanied by a large bill. With the US and UK firms coming into this country, they are going to have to change their approach quickly.

Okusami: When I was in private practice in Nigeria I wanted to write short opinions but there was pressure to make them longer and more 'robust'. When I went in-house, I sent a one-page summary to my CEO and he sent it back because it was too long. He wanted three paragraphs – or fewer.

This is an edited extract of a panel session at the Legal Week Corporate Counsel Forum Africa, which was chaired by Vuyo Kahla (pictured, top), group executive and company secretary at Sasol, and took place on 30 October at the Protea Hotel Balalaika in Johannesburg. For details of next year's conference email [email protected].