What I learned from 100+ conversations with top lawyers
Three truths about life in-house
Last year I held over 100 conversations with Australian GC’s and leaders of in-house legal teams.
Here are three things I learned:
(1) Working in-house is really hard.
Not a new fact by any means, but it really hit home last year. The idea that in-house is easier than private practice is a myth.
This was especially true during the first wave of COVID. GC’s were trying to manage team morale, respond to novel challenges and maintain some semblance of risk management.
Unfortunately, the tough times continue. A recent survey from EY Law found that
- 75% of GC’s are having difficulty handling current workloads;
- The workload is projected to increase by 25% during the next 3 years;
At some point, something’s surely got to give.
(2) Most in-house teams like their top tier law firms.
Again, many would already know this. But there’s a lot of hype around the future of law, the death of BigLaw and the transformation of legal practice.
In truth, I found that most GC’s and legal teams valued the support of their law firm partners and weren’t considering making dramatic changes to their panel.
Most industry stats seem to back this up:
- Despite being around for almost a decade in the Australian market, NewLaw business models and Alternative Legal Service Providers haven’t dramatically increased market share;
- Top-tier law firms continue to increase revenue and profitability, with most of the Big Six Australian law firms posting record profits in FY21;
- Most measures of client satisfaction show that GC’s are happy with their top-tier law firms
Say what you like about big, top-tier firms, but they seem to be doing a lot right by their clients.
(3) In-house teams are interested in tech and innovation but don’t have enough time.
Most GC’s I spoke with were aware of the potential benefits of legal technology and wanted to improve their legal function with new systems and processes.
The biggest barrier to making change was time.
Legal teams are working crazy hours just to get by. There’s no space for sitting and thinking and tinkering.
Most were aware of the vicious cycle of doing the work without improving the way work is done… but awareness doesn’t fix much.
The challenges of 2021 are much the same as last year for in-house teams.
My biggest takeaway from these conversations is that being a lawyer in-house is hard. And unless something changes soon, it’s going to get worse.
