Transitioning from Private Practice to In-House

From private practice to in house legal roles, via London, Amsterdam, Luzern (Switzerland) and New York – this article explores Jonathan's experiences of some of the practical differences and factors to take into account if you are considering a move to an in house legal department…

Jonathan trained at Allen & Overy LLP, qualifying into the asset finance team of the banking department and spending 18 months there post qualification. He then moved into a general commercial In-House Legal Counsel role for over 5 years at Sportingbet Plc before moving out to Switzerland for over 3 years to join TEAM Marketing as In-House Legal Counsel advising a single client, UEFA, as to a wide range of football related media and sponsorship rights.

• Why did I want to move In-House?

  My reasoning for moving out of private practice into an in-house legal role probably sounds familiar to many. I wanted to:

  • Get closer to the workings of a single business as opposed to dealing with ad hoc matters of several entities at a shallower depth of wider commercial understanding
  • Work with and alongside all departments and members of a corporate entity at vertical and horizontal levels
  • Establish greater control over my work/life balance

• Were my initial assumptions realistic or mostly naïve guesswork?

  They were, truth be told, a little of the former and a lot of the latter. With hindsight I was probably a little under-prepared for the initial culture shock during my first year as an In-House Counsel. Why so?

  'Understanding a business' is an incredibly all-encompassing process. It necessitates pro-activity, sitting down with each individual team within your business, being willing to speak their language, understand their unique commercial drivers and prioritise your own workload accordingly. It very quickly involves being taken out of your ‘comfort zone’, particularly in any kind of 'general commercial' In-House legal roles where any issue might land on your desk at any given time.

• Overcome the fear factor

  During my first 6 months in-house, I was, albeit as a trained and qualified Asset Finance Lawyer, advising on tax issues, real estate matters and resolving litigation disputes in South America, none of which I was previously familiar with. This led on to dealing with all issues arising out of a large internal corporate restructuring, various items of consequential M&A work, employment law issues, the establishment of new overseas subsidiary companies and an understanding of the regulatory regimes within new territories. As such, there is an inevitable initial fear factor to be overcome as regards not shying away from the legal unknown (be it within a 'general commercial' in-house role or within more specialised In-House Counsel jobs where you may very well need to look at certain legal issues outside of your immediate specialism) and being happy to embrace and deal with it sensibly and practically.

• Non-silo working

  Equally as marked a shift as regards the culture and personality fit. My experiences of working in private practice often involved working in silo. Working as an in-house Counsel, where your legal knowledge is, as far as your commercial colleagues are concerned, essentially an assumed given, the more succinct, practical, easy to read and problem-solving the answer you can relatively quickly provide, the better. I found this initially rather unnerving, as often felt I did not have enough time available to undertake the level of legal research I'd previously been used to. Any given day could naturally develop out into working across various individual matters (as in private practice) but also switching mindset across entirely different legal disciplines and areas, some legal, some commercial, some simply discussing what's happening internally within the company and its wider governing industry.

• Make a decision

  Independent decision-making is key. If I was in a General Counsel role looking to recruit an In-House Lawyer, it would be vital for me to be satisfied that my new hire could demonstrate the capacity and, equally as importantly, the desire, to be able to do this relatively quickly - the less a candidate would need, and wish, to be micro-managed in the medium to long-term the better. This is a bit of a gap to jump from the usual array of qualifications and assumptions which are more common comforting fallbacks for lawyers in private practice.

  Working as an In-House Counsel, decision-making is a crucial skill-set to be able to fall back on at any given time, be it an instant piece of advice to a colleague in the sales or marketing team or a final recommendation to your board of directors that a particular contract is ready to be signed or confirming immediate instructions to your outside foreign counsel as regards an ongoing piece of litigation.

• Full Circle

  My second in-house legal role was more of an unusual hybrid role, in that whilst it was also within a commercial entity's own legal team, that company in effect in turn worked for one sole external client, with all ultimate sign-offs on contracts resting with that client. I found this frustrating, having become more accustomed to running with legal issues from start to finish. In essence it began to represent a personal mindset shift back to private practice and re-confirmed to me that there are very marked differences between an in-house legal department and private practice.

• In-House Counsel Jobs on TotallyLegal

  We hope that this article has shed some light on working for an in-house legal department and helped you to make an important career choice.

  Are you in the market for a new opportunity? Apply for the latest In-House Counsel jobs today on TotallyLegal and set up a job alert so you can be the first to hear about new opportunities.