Employers of legal talent throughout Europe have seen their recruitment and retention efforts buffeted over the past three years by two strong forces: the exit of the U.K. from the European Union, and the tilt toward remote working brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Jerry Temko and Lisa Owens, managing directors of Major, Lindsey & Africa and members of the recruiter's EMEA in-house counsel practice, spoke recently with Law.com International about the challenges legal departments in Europe are facing from these two trends.

The conversation has been edited for length and clarity. 

Q. You both work frequently with life sciences companies. Why has Brexit been a particular challenge for these companies in their recruitment of in-house legal talent in Europe?

Temko: The major hubs of life sciences companies are in the U.K. and Switzerland, and there has often been a shuttle of people between the two countries. That is obviously challenged now, thanks to Brexit, and due to changes in the Swiss cantonal system, which restricts the number of non-Swiss nationals that can be hired in senior roles.

So, there isn't quite the fluidity or flexibility that there once was and companies are having to become more creative in terms of tapping into top talent. 

At some point, though, the question of a longer-term commitment will come up. And we are also seeing an increasing trend toward remote working, especially for certain kinds of legal roles. And that is adding to the complexity.

Q. Which in-house legal roles lend themselves to remote working, and which require more presence in the office?

Temko: It depends a lot on the risk profile of the company. If you are a lawyer in the privacy sphere, you pretty much can set out training, policies, monitoring, and delivery of remote advice more readily than you might in a role that requires more rapport and leading face-to-face. For example, the nature of a compliance officer's role really requires someone to spend the time getting to know the business and the people and developing "followship." 

Transactional lawyering, which puts more of an emphasis on drafting and negotiation, can be done through SharePoint and by other tools that enable one to get the job done.

Q. How have companies' attitudes changed toward letting their in-house legal staff work remotely?

Owens: The trend toward people working remotely is increasing, but generally within the country in which they're employed. At the beginning of the pandemic, there was an assumption that if remote working continued, you could go and sit on a beach and do your job from anywhere. And that hasn't translated into reality. There's not much appetite to hire someone for a role in Switzerland who wants to sit in their holiday home in Spain.

I think it's still evolving. I don't think it's a settled picture yet.

Q. What solutions do you suggest to your clients who want to build a cross-border team within these constraints?

Temko: In cases that Lisa and I have worked on, we tried to find areas where companies could set up a temporary secondment, within a three-to-six-month period where this was allowed by local law. That's one way to promote cross-pollination of ideas and team building within a given department.

Another area is contracting a permanent hire through a local affiliate, provided that this individual was not identified as a key decision-maker, which might cause issues from a tax and a permanent establishment perspective.

And then, in terms of further creativity, it is worth trying to enhance managing a remote, and geographically dispersed team through frequent video conferences, offsites, or other ways to keep the linkage working.

Q: What has been the response of companies you work with?