Developing General Counsel Skills Jesse Raben General Counsel
Developing General Counsel Skills Jesse Raben | General Counsel, The Common Application Curtis Schehr | Executive Vice President, General Counsel & Corporate Secretary, DCS Corporation Chris Young | General Counsel, Ironclad, Inc. #Newto. Inhouse
Jesse Raben Curtis Schehr Chris Young General Counsel The Common Application EVP, General Counsel & Corporate Secretary DCS Corporation General Counsel Ironclad, Inc. #Newto. Inhouse
Polling Questions 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Are you a GC or CLO? How many report to the CEO? CFO? COO? Other? Have you taken a leadership course or executive coaching? Do you present information to your Bo. D or Executive Team? How many people in your legal department 1 -5, 6 -15, 16 -30, 30+? #Newto. Inhouse
Roadmap 1. Relationships 2. Communication 3. Strategies #Newto. Inhouse
1. How do you communicate? Communication • Written, phone/text, face to face, body language, facial expressions 2. Where do you communicate? Listen Learn • Hallway? Office? Lunch? 3. Are you listening? • • Listen to learn, not to respond Listening allows you to know your audience 4. Respond: • • Respond • In a timely manner Transparently (e. g. , I will/will not be able to meet the deadline) By offering and accepting feedback
Effective Communication = Self. Awareness (Intrapersonal) Skills/Emotional IQ Awareness of how you affect others 1. How do people view your department? 2. How do you treat others? Does it vary based on title? 3. What does your 360 review, if any, say? 4. What does your body language say in a meeting? 5. Do you trust your gut? 6. Do you know how to apologize or accept rejection? 7. How often do you say thank you? 8. Do you smile often or laugh at the office? 9. How many times a day do you leave your office? 10. How do you handle conflict?
Developing and Maintaining Relationships with Key Stakeholders ● Your overall success will be greatly affected by key stakeholders, particularly inside the organization ● “Relationship Circle” includes C-Suite executives, Business Unit leaders, Human Resources, Finance/Accounting, Sales, IT and Board of Directors ● Learn what is important to each stakeholder in their “world” ● Understand what each stakeholder expects from the Legal Department
Developing and Maintaining Relationships with Key Stakeholders ● Visit each business unit location to meet management, learn what the group does and understand their (legal) needs and challenges: ○ ○ ● Demonstrates your interest in relationship-building and supporting the business unit’s goals The “personal touch” is powerful Describe how you see the Legal Department supporting each stakeholder’s objectives: ○ Discuss and reconcile differences between your perspectives of Legal Department roles
Developing and Maintaining Relationships with Key Stakeholders ● ● ● Demonstrate through action you mean what you say Dispel any perception that Legal is the department of “no” by identifying constructive solutions to issues stakeholders raise Be responsive even when you think you don’t have the time All Legal Department members should emulate GC in their interactions with stakeholders Show willingness to course correct (and acknowledge mistakes) Make sure the Legal Department is a team player
Developing and Maintaining Relationships with Key Stakeholders ● Handling conflicts and issues: ○ ○ Building good relationships with stakeholders early on will lead to fewer concerns down the line Building good relationships makes it easier to address conflicts How you conduct yourself in addressing issues or conflicts has a lasting impact not only on your relationship with stakeholders but also your broader reputation You don’t have to “win” every battle
Strategies: Streamlining Legal Operations to Do More with Less ● Challenge: Legal Department viewed as a “cost-center” ○ ○ ● Establish a legal operations function ○ ○ ● Spending revenue, not generating it Difficult to prove need for company resources (e. g. , headcount) Legal version of “sales ops” or “rev ops” Do more legal work, less paperwork Use “machines” to manage non-legal work ○ ○ Establish SOPs and policies to empower business users Leverage and implement new technologies (e. g. , ebilling, contract and matter management)
Strategies: Become a Strategic Contributor to the Business by Leveraging Data ● Transition Legal Department from “cost-center” to “revenue-adjacent” and strategic business partner ○ Go from reactive to proactive ● Contribute to the business by turning Legal into a data-rich resource ○ ○ ○ Track Legal spend, matter management, contract and process data Use contract data to a) save your company money, b) mitigate risk, and c) ensure compliance Use process data to a) justify hiring needs, b) determine priorities and allocate work, c) present to C-Suite, and d) improve business processes
Strategies: Learn from your peers ● Lean on your GC peers—no need to recreate the wheel ○ ● Explore Legal operations: ○ ● Join GC groups, list-serves; schedule in-person meetings Learn how to budget, set KPIs, build your department, evaluate ideal service providers, etc. Come up to speed on subject-matter specific issues: ○ Contract templates, compensation issues, international expansion, etc.
Resources For Learning About Relationships • • • https: //hbr. org/2004/01/what-makes-a-leader https: //hbr. org/2007/02/discovering-your-authentic-leadership https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=u 4 Zo. JKF_Vu. A https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=z. ESeea. FDVSw https: //www. ted. com/talks/amy_cuddy_your_body_language_shapes_ who_you_are https: //www. ted. com/talks/celeste_headlee_10_ways_to_have_a_bette r_conversation https: //www. forbes. com/sites/work-in-progress/2016/03/31/read-thisand-be-a-better-listener-immediately/#2340179564 a 2 https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=c. Fd. Cz. N 7 RYbw&app=desktop https: //vimeopro. com/user 20247593/lisa-coleman/video/116577449 https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=02 EJ 1 Id. C 6 t. E
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