Career Options For In-House Counsel

B.Map a Plan for SuccessAs an attorney, you know how critical strategy is to your success on the job: It enables you to wincases and maximize your company’s business opportunities. The same is true when it comes tomanaging your career. Having a well-thought-out plan can make all the difference in your abilityto create realistic, yet attainable, professional objectives and pursue the changes necessary toachieve them.A career plan is a valuable tool – whether you’re an experienced in-house counsel or in the earlyyears of your career in law. While it requires an investment of your time, carefully mapping out acareer move or series of moves allows you to achieve goals earlier in life and, in the process, avoidreaching a mid-career plateau.To create a blueprint for any professional transition, there are three basic factors to consider:1. What you’re doing now;2. What you want to do instead;3. And what is required to get you there.A proactive plan to address these factors involves an honest assessment of what really drives youand how prepared you are to make a change. The rest of this section outlines steps attorneys cantake to establish an effective career transition plan, make it work and ensure its continuedrelevance over the long-term.1.Define Your “Ideal” PositionThe underpinning of any effective career plan is a thorough understanding of your values – thosethat transcend what you do for a living. Unfortunately, too many people who want to make achange try to set career objectives without first considering what their real behavioral drivers are.Or worse, they accept a new position without even pausing to consider them. An impendingtransition should be viewed as an opportunity for soul-searching, a time to step back from theoften furious pace of being a lawyer to understand what really motivates you.a.What are Your Real Priorities?Many methods have been developed to help people align their career choices with their personalvalues. Most of these approaches are variations on the same theme, but all have the goal of helpingyou identify your core values.You may have participated in a number of such assessments during your school years to help youdefine your values, personality traits, and other indicators that can guide you toward appropriateand fulfilling career choices. These can also be helpful later in life as you consider a careertransition.Testing tools range in sophistication and specificity, but if you haven’t gone through a selfevaluation in years, just ranking your basic preferences and motivators can be a big help inFor more ACC InfoPAKs, please visit http://www.acc.com/infopaks

launching a career plan. The following is a very simple example. To get the most out of it, keep anopen mind and don’t try to reconcile your answers with your current work situation. You can alsoadd values of your own if they’re not listed here:1.Read each of the value statements below, then assign a number to each based on the followingscale:Very important:. 4Somewhat important:. 3Little importance:. 2Not important at all: . 1Getting ahead quickly in my professionWorking with an organization strongly focused on ethicsHaving the chance to work in areas in which I have a great interestSpending more time with my family and/or friendsMaking a great deal of moneyParticipating in something bigger than myselfWorking with people whom I like and admireExpressing myself creativelyMaking my own decisionsInfluencing peopleHaving more time to devote to my hobbies or leisure activitiesBelieving my work is making a real differenceLearning and experiencing new thingsBelonging to an organization where my contributions are valuedOtherContinuedCopyright 2013 Robert Half Legal and Association of Corporate Counsel

2.Look at only those values in Step 1 that you’ve rated as a “4” and rank them in order ofpriority.As you focus on the values you listed as “very important,” ask yourself whether your currentcareer direction is consistent with those values. If it isn’t, you may want to consider making achange.b.Why Did You Take the Job?Besides tests, there are some other simple ways to uncover what you really want from your work.Two of the key questions recruiters always ask job candidates are: “What attracted you to yourcurrent job?” and “Why are you looking to make a move?” Before you can attach a set of realisticgoals to your plan, you’ll need to carefully evaluate what you originally sought in your current joband what is now prompting you to seek a change.Identify which factors contributed most to your personal sense of achievement. Was it theintellectual challenge or interaction with others? Was it the opportunity to work on a high-stakesproject? Consider also growth potential, job security and compensation.Revisit projects and cases that gave you a strong sense of accomplishment. Did serving as the leadcounsel on a particular case, for example, give you a sense of pride? Or was it securing a patent fora new engineering concept? Perhaps it was participating on a project team to proactively develop aplan to meet a request for discovery. Answering these questions can help you better assess thefactors that drive you – and, in turn, determine how you might more frequently perform suchactivities that provide you with satisfaction in your work.c.Prioritize Work Style IssuesThis is also a good time to think about your preferred working style and evaluate whether you’vebeen able to operate in that manner in your current position. You might thrive on marshaling thetalents of others. Or you may enjoy approaching projects under tight deadline pressures, duringwhich you focus on developing a precise plan of action. Or your preference could be to adopt amore methodical approach, with a view toward the long-term. Each of these styles is effective.What’s important is to identify which one you personally prefer and whether you’ve been able toapply it in your current position.In addition, it may be helpful to evaluate what you like and dislike most about the legal professionin general, and your role as an attorney. Do you enjoy managing and mentoring? Do you preferindependent research or working with others? Do you like new challenges and work that isconstantly changing? This critical step will help you avoid making decisions solely for otherreasons, such as money, status or ease of transition. You may discover characteristics aboutyourself that you didn’t know existed. For example, you may find working as a project attorney ismore desirable than climbing the traditional corporate ladder.For more ACC InfoPAKs, please visit http://www.acc.com/infopaks

d.What’s Your Motivation to Change?Also ask yourself why you are looking for a change. The answer is painfully obvious to attorneyswho are involuntarily downsized. Those deciding on their own to make a move, however, canbenefit from some introspective exercises. If you’re considering a change, take a close look ateverything from job security and compensation to intrinsic rewards. Does your current job fail toprovide these benefits, or have your preferences since changed? Perhaps you want to spend moretime with family and seek relief from a law office that has turned into a 24/7 operation in order tomanage cases that straddle international time zones.Again, not everyone arrives at a new chapter in his or her professional life out of dissatisfaction.Some just want a fresh start or to work on something new. And some attorneys who end upmaking a transition were not originally even looking for a change. An unexpected opportunitymay reinvigorate old ideas of career alternatives in lawyers who are quite satisfied with theircurrent positions.The bottom line: Get to know yourself. And be honest and objective about your preferences. Forexample, if you are not a detail-oriented person, you could be miserable as a tax attorney.Knowing your values and preferences will help you determine whether opportunities that comealong are worth pursuing and consistent with your career plan.2.A Final Word About Career Plans C.Many professionals fail to create a career plan because they are concerned it will taketoo much time. But that’s a misconception. You can create a sound career plan relativelyquickly once you have established a framework and have done an adequate amount ofbrainstorming.Avoid striving to create a “perfect” plan. Recognize that perfection is an unlikely goal.Remember that creating a career plan is a dynamic process, not a one-time activity.You’ll likely make modifications to it as time goes on. You may find that certain goalsare unrealistic within your predetermined time horizons, or that you possess certainskills and strengths you didn’t even know you had.Get started as soon as possible. The sooner you launch your career plan, the sooneryou’ll be on your way to working toward your true career goals.Decide Your CourseOnce you’ve identified what truly inspires you, you can begin to define your options. Examine thegeneral direction you want to take as an in-house attorney or avenues you might pursue to useyour skills in other ways. What are your basic options?1.Lateral MovesIt’s not uncommon today for attorneys to make one or more lateral moves over the course of theircareers – either from one corporation or industry to another, from a law firm to the corporateCopyright 2013 Robert Half Legal and Association of Corporate Counsel

world, or from one law firm to another. A number of factors have helped make this a viableprofessional strategy.A lateral move can provide an opportunity to gain experience in new practices areas or industrysectors, serving as a stepping stone to achieving your long-term career objective. It can also offermore interesting, challenging and diverse work that can help you define long-range careeraspirations. Those who opt for lateral moves also have a chance to enhance their legal capabilitiesin particular areas that will ultimately make them more marketable for in-house prospects downthe road. Still others may decide to explore lateral options due to company closures, mergers oracquisitions.Regardless of your motivation, if you feel you have absorbed all that your current job andcompany have to offer, you may want to consider a lateral position with another organization. Doyou have latitude to make key decisions affecting your areas of responsibility, or do you feel leftout of the department’s strategic planning efforts? Have you initiated discussions about goalsyou’d like to pursue and received little response? If so, it could be time to consider making achange.The possibilities for in-house counsel are as varied as the thousands of businesses seeking lawyers.Many firms need attorneys with experience in contract negotiations, trademark issues, andmergers and acquisitions. Legal professionals with expertise in e-discovery, for example, also arein demand as the amount of electronic data continues to grow exponentially. Acknowledging thisanticipated growth, nearly one-third (33 percent) of lawyers who participated in Robert Half Legalresearch said they planned to increase their spending on e-discovery services.1Legal experts in certain practice specialties, such as corporate litigation, general business andcommercial law, healthcare, and labor/employment, continue to be in strong demand amongbusinesses. Also, industries such as biotechnology and life sciences are hiring in-house counsel atan accelerated rate. These companies seek attorneys with industry experience and the ability tocommunicate legal concepts in laypersons’ terms for scientists and other non-legal professionals.2.Same Company, New RoleBefore you decide to move to another company, make sure you aren’t closing the door on potentialopportunities with your current employer. Another choice is to remain with your current companyand assume new responsibilities.Within corporate law, there are many new emerging opportunities to expand traditional roles.Besides dealing with duties such as contract preparation or trademark issues, in-house counselalso serve as the primary legal advisors for other departments in the company, such as humanresources, marketing, investor relations, or government affairs. Others are moving into executiveor management positions, becoming more involved in overall operations and giving strategicbusiness and legal advice.Some lawyers with a technical background are crossing over into knowledge management. Therole of a Chief Knowledge Officer requires technical savvy to implement and oversee a system ofinformation management within a department or law firm.For more ACC InfoPAKs, please visit http://www.acc.com/infopaks

Corporate accounting legislation introduced during the past decade has given rise to a host ofregulatory challenges. Today, corporations look to their in-house counsel for direction regardingthese issues and compliance mandates as well. At public companies, some attorneys are serving ascorporate governance officers to direct the people, operational procedures, and systems requiredto ensure responsible and ethical governance of their firms. Other organizations, typically in moreheavily regulated sectors such as financial services and healthcare, have assigned in-house counselto the position of corporate compliance officers, whose role is to design, implement, and maintaininternal controls, policies, and procedures to assure compliance with local, state, and federal lawsand regulations.A transition may be as simple as asking your general counsel if you can take on new projects andbegin learning about a different area in your department.3.Project-Based WorkAnother option, especially beneficial for experienced attorneys looking for more flexibility in theircareers and balance in their lives, is project-based work.Increasingly, legal departments are striking a balance between the need for additional staff andmodest hiring budgets by engaging legal professionals on a project basis, particularly whenimmediate access to specialized expertise is required for unexpected workloads or complexinitiatives, such as litigation or e-discovery.This trend is supported by research conduct

Association of Corporate Counsel 1025 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Suite 200 Washington, DC 20036 USA tel 1 202.293.4103, fax 1 202.293.4701 www.acc.com By in-house counsel, for in-house counsel. Association of Corporate Counsel 1025 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Suite 200 Washington, DC 20036 USA tel 1 202.293.4