What are the challenges of being in-house?
Whilst there are many benefits to working in-house, it is a totally different environment to private practice. You will be required to work in a very different way and will inevitably face new challenges and new pressures. Some points to consider follow:
- At any time, your client can walk into your office (assuming you have one – many legal teams now work open plan), requiring immediate attention. You must therefore be able to take decisions in a pressurised environment and think on your feet.
- You may be expected to advise on areas of law that are not within your specialist practice area, so a proactive attitude and willingness to step outside your comfort zone is essential.
- Access to external advisors is likely to be limited for budgetary reasons. The emphasis is on doing as much as possible in-house.
- Businesses are constantly changing so you need to be flexible to cope with that change.
- As a cost to the business and a service provider, your purpose, and possibly your status, within the organisation is likely to be different.
- Administrative support and legal resources tend to be limited. Computer literacy and typing skills are expected.
- Teams tend to be small and usually stretched in terms of man power so you should expect a busy and constant workload.