Index
- How (not) to get the most out of your in-house counsel: do’s and don’ts - article
- Want to go in-house for a start up? - article
- The politics of prioritization for in-house counsel - article
- Robots are taking over our jobs - video
- Going in-house: a whole new way of lawyering - article
- Why I became an instructor for CounselEdge - video
- Hidden blockers to your promotion as in-house counsel - article
How (not) to get the most out of your in-house counsel: do’s and don’ts
In-house legal teams are uniquely positioned to support business strategy, manage risk, and drive efficiency—if you know how to use them effectively. These do’s and don’ts will help you work smarter with your legal team.
Do: use AI, intelligently
AI is helpful if you would like to familiarize yourself with a given legal topic. However, at present relying 100% on an AI summary of the topic to make business decisions may not be very effective, as AI can fail to take all relevant legal sources into account, quote sentences out of context, draw upon outdated sources and/or eliminate nuances when summarizing, potentially leading to erroneous conclusions.
It is currently far more beneficial to use AI to find authoritative content, such as a law firm memo on a given topic, and for you to read that in its entirety, rather than relying on an AI summary as your source of truth.
What is not a good use of resources is to send an AI summary to in-house counsel wholesale and ask them to fact check it. It is up to you to verify the sources that feed into a summary, and choose the right ones to spend time on.
Don’t: ask in-house counsel to “sign off” without providing the facts
The job of in-house counsel is not to point you to a random provision in the law so you can go figure out what to do (or not). Your in-house counsel is there to advise on specific situations, to help maximize your chances of meeting your goals without falling afoul of regulations. They cannot do this without a full picture of what you are trying to achieve.
They also do not have any option to just tell you “I’m only advising on the facts (or lack thereof) provided,” because their job is to help manage risks to your organization, not themselves. Importantly for you, without facts they cannot give you solutions, only more problems.
Do: allow in-house counsel to make judgment calls on when and how to consult external counsel
Your in-house counsel is there to help you manage costs and risks to the company. Their job includes fact finding, asking the right questions and narrowing down the scope of unknowns before external advice is sought. In-house counsel is also tasked to ensure that legal advice is sought in a cost effective manner.
In-house counsel may also be privy to matters internally which are confidential and not widely known which may impact a particular situation. Experienced counsel should furthermore have a good handle on risk calibration from a wider organizational perspective, not just on the matter at hand. Funneling all external counsel queries through your in-house counsel is therefore not just wise, but essential to running an organization effectively.
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Want to get on your in-house counsel’s good side? Introduce them to CounselEdge, where early career in-house counsel can access short, sharp and to the point content to help them succeed in their organizations.
Jun 2025 | Mia Watanabe
Want to go in-house for a start up?
Whether you’re coming from school, private practice or another in-house role, working as in-house counsel for a start up is an experience unlike any other.
For the right person, it can be an amped up version of the usual in-house counsel experience: you can feel a strong sense of purpose as you work alongside colleagues to drive towards clear common goals, and you can make your mark on the business in a significant way.
The topic of choosing the right start up deserves its own in-depth analysis, but here are some general considerations on what life might be like if you choose to go in-house for a start up:
1 - More than just legal
Start ups need all the help they can get. You might be going in as in-house counsel, but besides lawyering e.g. drafting agreements and advising on regulations, you might find yourself helping out with recruiting, selling, event organizing, and more.
Does the business need office space? It might be on you to go find it, negotiate pricing and get the lease signed. Is there an urgent issue with a client that needs to be sorted? Legally-related or not, that could be you too. Are potential investors visiting the office? Does that conference need a speaker to represent the company? You again, to go buy the glasses to serve up water, and speak on stage.
At a start up, it’s all hands on deck -- and for the right kind of lawyer, a challenge to your comfort zone and all the more fun.
2 - Sleep? Bah, who needs that
There’s always something to do at a start up. The tasks seem endless, legally related or not, and without a lot of cushy resources. The flip side to this is that you can find purpose in helping build something from scratch. The joy of teamwork can also be real as you work in tandem with colleagues to just get things done.
You may also realize just how resourceful you actually are. You might just happen to know a marketing contact, a banking contact, a potential client or even a potential investor that can help the business. Again, your impact on the business can be far greater than joining a mature stage company.
3 - Steep learning curve
Any in-house job requires a good understanding of the business, but at a start up where the business is new, there may be a lot more to learn and few precedents.
Workshopping with external counsel on new concepts which may not fit squarely within existing regulations can be absorbing, as is networking and researching to understand the landscape of stakeholders in the market and the spaces in which the business could potentially grow.
Particularly if you’re joining as sole counsel, you’ll have to build the framework for your function from scratch. You may even have to help build a bunch of other frameworks for the business whether it has to do with managing personnel, company policies, or operational processes. Again, a lot of fun -- and an incredible growth opportunity -- for the right lawyer.
4 - Relationships, relationships, relationships
As in-house counsel for a start up you’ll potentially be the primary risk manager for the business – i.e. the person who’s looking out for the “what ifs” while everyone else is go go growth.
This makes having strong working relationships with colleagues absolutely essential, even more so than in any other in-house job, so that you can steer the business in the right direction and help find solutions while managing risk.
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Working in-house for a start up can be exhilarating and a huge learning opportunity. For the right kind of lawyer it is the chance of a lifetime, and with the right start up the rewards can be great.
Apr 2025 | Mia Watanabe
Have what it takes to go in-house at a start up? Want to know more about how to manage risks while finding solutions? Check out our on-demand course, ImpactEdge.
The politics of prioritization for in-house counsel
For corporate in-house counsel pulled in multiple directions by daily demands, prioritization is everything.
Every business person thinks their request is the most important thing that needs to be done – right now. You might feel like barking “take a number” – and there are apps to help legal departments do precisely that.
However, the manner in which you prioritize your workload can have profound consequences on your performance and the way you are perceived at work. So, how can you improve your ability to prioritize effectively?
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Move things off your plate
If you’re lucky enough to have a team to delegate to, first on your list should be to see which things you can assign to others. There may also be requests more appropriately handled by another department, in which case you can helpfully refer the requestor to the right person.
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Dig into deadlines
What’s in a deadline? Is there a regulatory deadline at play? A contractual deadline? A board or committee deadline? A quarter or year end deadline? Or, is the deadline entirely made up? Not all deadlines are created equal.
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Calibrate risks
Not all risks are created equal either. With experience, you will get a sense of which things might blow up and which things can probably simmer.
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Manage relationships
If you were getting the same tasks over and over again from the same sets of people, asking people to take a queue number could be an answer.
However, more often than not, in-house counsel get a variety of different kinds of requests from people who perform all sorts of functions – and of varying seniority.
Understanding spheres of influence and building a solid base of trust are critical when responding to various kinds of requests. If you manage relationships in advance, it will be easier to have conversations about coming to joint understandings on timelines for specific asks. The goal here is to leave stakeholders feeling properly served.
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Go back to first principles
What is the purpose of your role or function? How are you meant to perform it? Remembering first principles can help you prioritize which things are “musts” and which things are “nice to haves,” right now.
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Laying the groundwork and leveraging the right skills will make you a pro at prioritizing in a busy environment. Smart prioritization allows you not just to make your workday manageable, it can also help you shape your reputation at work.
Apr 2025 | Mia Watanabe
Want to know more about how to calibrate risks and define the first principles of your role? Check out our on-demand course, ImpactEdge. Coming soon: InfluencingEdge, on building relationships at work.
Robots are taking over (our jobs)!
Discover why developing “human skills” is a critical advantage for in-house counsel
Going in-house: a whole new way of lawyering
Are you considering going in-house? A career as corporate in-house counsel can be a rewarding one, in which you can make an impact from early on in your legal career. Working alongside non-lawyers towards a common goal can be varied, fun, and give you a sense of purpose.
As for the day to day, just like law firm lawyers, corporate in-house counsel advise clients and draft legal documents. However, the similarities end there. How successful in-house counsel approach their roles is vastly different from law firm lawyers and requires a distinct skill set. Here are some factors to consider if you’re thinking of going in-house.
1 - Singularity
Law firm lawyers have multiple clients; in-house counsel have only one – which is also their employer. While law firm lawyers may work for different associates and partners in a firm, in-house counsel reports to one manager (although in some cases there may be multiple managers).
This singularity - one client, one manager - makes relationship building with both absolutely critical for in-house counsel.
The aim of in-house counsel is also singular: to advance the interests of its client. This can be very rewarding as you work alongside your client with a common purpose. This is different from law firm lawyers, who have the interests of their firms to consider.
2 - Skill set
There’s no singularity, on the other hand, when it comes to the kinds of things in-house counsel have to deal with on a daily basis.
Law firm lawyers are expected to be deep domain experts. They are fundamentally judged on their technical knowledge and capabilities, and on the revenues they bring in for their firms.
On the other hand, corporate in-house counsel are generally broader in their coverage area. While in-house lawyers are expected to have an understanding of the laws applicable to their business and possess drafting skills, they are often able to rely on law firms as well as, increasingly, other legal services providers and automated solutions, to provide technical expertise.
In-house counsel do not drum up any revenues whatsoever: in fact, in-house counsel are a cost to their organisations. With no numbers to look at, in-house counsel are instead judged primarily on how their client, their organization, perceives them.
This results in in-house counsel needing an entirely different set of skills from that of law firm lawyers, in order to be successful.
3 - Structure
Law firm structures are usually fairly simple, and advancement is automatic until a certain level. On the other hand, corporate structures can be all sorts, and advancement is not guaranteed.
This creates challenges but also opportunities for in-house counsel, as lawyers who can be effective, manage relationships and navigate their organizations successfully can have a varied and rewarding career.
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Going in-house can be an opportunity to learn a whole new way of lawyering. For the right person, the skills required are fun to acquire and can lead to a fulfilling career.
Mar 2025 | Mia Watanabe
Want to know more about how to manage other people's perceptions of you as in-house counsel? Check out our on-demand course, ImpactEdge. Coming soon: InfluencingEdge, on building relationships with the people critical to your success.
Why I became an instructor for CounselEdge
Hear why instructor Mia Watanabe decided to teach in-house counsel the skills to thrive in an organization
Hidden blockers to your promotion as in-house counsel
After a couple of years of experience as corporate in-house counsel, you’ve got a hang of the technical parts of your job and you’ve had some positive year end reviews. So how come you haven’t been promoted?
Consider these potential blockers to your promotion that no one might be telling you about:
You haven’t shifted from “law firm lawyer mode” to “in-house counsel mode”
Many in-house lawyers start out as law firm lawyers. The transition to advising internal – as opposed to external – clients requires a change in approach. Working for the organisation you advise requires you to be at once the risk manager and the execution person for your business: a challenging dichotomy to navigate well.
You haven’t articulated why you should be promoted
In order to secure your promotion, your boss has to go tell his or her boss why you should be promoted. What will they say? Promotion doesn’t automatically come with tenure. You need to equip your manager with the rationales and justifications for your promotion.
You haven’t mastered the art of getting to “yes”
Saying “no” is easy when an internal client comes to you with something that doesn’t quite fit with the legal framework you’re working with. Instead, a good in-house lawyer is able to think outside the box to come up with some alternatives that may work.
You don’t own your own domain
When you’re able to respond to internal clients without having to go check with someone first, then you start to look like an expert. That doesn’t necessarily mean you should answer every question without escalation and take inappropriate risks; it simply means that you should focus on a few key things that you’re eventually able to master. When internal clients see you as the go to person for these areas, you can then ask to take on more.
You aren't visible to senior people
Being promoted often means you’ll have more senior stakeholders. Senior people need to see you as a credible advisor and partner in advancing their objectives. If you do great things but no one knows about you or what you have accomplished, it’s going to be hard for them to visualize you in that role.
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You may be lucky enough to have a boss or mentor who tells you exactly what you need to do to get promoted. If you do everything you’re told and you still aren’t promoted, or you’re having a hard time reading between the lines with vague guidance, these promotion blockers may be something to consider before the next chat with your manager on the topic.
Feb 2025 | Mia Watanabe
Check out our on-demand course, ImpactEdge, on how to define your role, grow your reputation and get to “yes.”