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ARTICLE

Practical Pointers for Working with In-House Counsel

Naomi M. Berry

Summary

  • We asked in-house attorneys for advice on how outside counsel can stay in good favor and get repeat business.
  • Tell the client if you think that a lawsuit is a loser or something is a bad idea.
  • Understand the client’s time constraints and requirements.
  • Understand what the client wants to review and be involved with.
Practical Pointers for Working with In-House Counsel
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In preparation for our Corporate Counsel CLE Conference and the Litigation Management Roundtable, we asked in-house attorneys for advice on how outside counsel can stay in good favor and get repeat business. Their insights are invaluable.

  1. Honesty. No surprises! Tell the client if you think that a lawsuit is a loser or something is a bad idea. Better to discuss up front than for the client to waste money learning it was a mistake. And if there’s bad news, call the client right away.
  2. Time constraints and requirements. Understand the client’s time constraints and requirements. Communicate early about upcoming deadlines and set internal deadlines accordingly. Never send drafts at the last minute, especially if they’re lengthy. Also, be sympathetic to the time pressures on in-house counsel and the businesspeople with whom they’re working. Litigation is disruptive to businesspeople, and outside counsel need to be realistic about the lead time they will need to focus on the litigation.
  3. Review, authority, and change implementation. Understand what the client wants to review and be involved with. Some clients will want to review every draft no matter how (in)significant. Others only want to be bothered with dispositive motions or big-picture strategy questions. Find out what you’re authorized to do on your own and what you need to consult with the client for. And, crucially, if in-house counsel edits a draft, implement the changes or discuss why you are not doing so.
  4. Update frequency. At the outset of any relationship or matter, establish clear guidelines for how much information the client wants to receive and how often. Is a once-a-week summary sufficient, or does the client want live/real-time updates?
  5. Case-specific counsel. Provide in-house counsel with the right outside counsel team for the specific case. Team members must understand the particular industry and how the client operates in that industry. And always consider the importance of team diversity.
  6. Teamwork. Work with in-house counsel as part of the team. In-house counsel are highly skilled and do much more than just manage outside counsel. Moreover, in-house counsel must advise the business on more than just the case at hand and must consider broader business implications. These broader implications are often not something that outside counsel are aware of; thus, it is imperative that in-house counsel be an integral part of the team.
  7. Turnover. If the lead attorney or any key member of a legal team becomes overscheduled or less available in a manner that impacts deliverables, notify the client and propose alternate staffing or get agreement on delayed turnaround times. Counsel turnover during a case can be very disruptive. Obviously, that can’t always be avoided, but those risks should be minimized whenever possible.
  8. Litigation knowledge. Remember that not all in-house counsel are litigators. Know who you’re dealing with and consider whether they will be familiar with abbreviations and acronyms, and whether they’ll need more of an explanation akin to what you would give a businessperson. Your in-house counsel may not have reviewed the rules of civil procedure since law school.
  9. Flexibility. Be sensitive to the effects of the hybrid work environment on your client. This could mean that the client needs additional lead time to obtain notarized signatures or original documents, or to schedule in-person interviews with witnesses who are on staggered schedules. Conversely, be flexible with your own work schedule. If the client is in town on Wednesday and wants to meet in person, the client doesn’t want to hear that it’s supposed to be your day at home.
  10. Budget. Stick to the budget! It’s important to understand the client’s budget requirements and to keep the client updated as the case progresses, especially if you’re going over budget or something unexpected arises. Also, provide a detailed list of assumptions and include those with any proposed budget.

Thanks to Stefan Mallen of Emerson Electric Co., Nancy Saltzman of LogicalisUS, Mark Stewart of Merck, Kim Jessum of Heraeus, and Joan Archer for sharing their advice.