Motivating moves for your legal department

Good in-house lawyers are essential to a general counsel’s success. Among all the strategic tools needed for the general counsel to carry out his or her job effectively, lawyers remain one of the most prized. When companies find themselves struggling as the economy begins to slow, or when they are trying to navigate through the uncertainty of a new and more restrictive regulatory environment, having good lawyers to hand can help mitigate some of the risks they might face.

Unfortunately, in difficult economic times like these, the best lawyers are always in high demand – so if your law department has good lawyers, it needs to make sure they aren’t itching to move on to other opportunities offering higher pay and more prestige. Many companies are starting to build law departments for the long term by offering attractive retention packages and bonuses that act like golden handcuffs, luring lawyers away from competitors.

For the general counsel, then, keeping seasoned law department personnel around for an extended period of time is one of the biggest challenges. ‘Lawyers more often think about leaving their in-house position when they’re nearing the twilight of their career, or if their career has become stalled in one place,’ says Alan Lowenthal, general counsel of Saab Cars North America. ‘When your lawyers come to believe their job is really nothing more than a way to get their semi-monthly paycheck, you’ve probably already lost them.’

Building for a bigger role

Lawyers often lose their desire to stay in a corporate legal department because vertical advancements are seen as rare. However, most lawyers excel in their careers when they spend years gaining experience at the same company before moving on to tackle bigger responsibilities and tougher challenges.

‘If an employee doesn’t feel like she has a direction or isn’t progressing – especially if she is a high achiever – it is clear she will not stay around for long,’ says Damien Atkins, deputy general counsel – corporate affairs at AOL. ‘The main tool in our toolkit is keeping things interesting and making sure that people are working on new and exciting things. Members of the legal department should always have opportunities for professional development.’

Even before the 2008 financial crisis, staff retention was often a problem for legal departments. Lawyers are constantly on the go, looking for opportunities where they can build clientele and gain experience. To prevent the lawyers in his team from leaving too quickly, Atkins constantly rotates projects between them, because engagement can keep them interested in their jobs.
During proxy season, for example, each member of Atkins’ team will have a chance to roll up their sleeves and learn about the various parts of the process. ‘You have to encourage members of your legal team to be a leader outside of their department,’ he explains. ‘This will enhance their profile and eventually enable them to take on a larger role.’

Why employees leave

Atkins says there are a number of reasons why a company’s legal department can easily fall apart. The answer to why an employee leaves is not always the obvious – that is, insufficient salary. While compensation remains the number one reason why an employee will jump ship, there are other factors that may contribute.

Retention is a key issue many companies fail to take seriously. ‘As lawyers, we are trained to be more focused on client service and keeping up to date on legal developments instead of retaining the people we need to rely on,’ says Atkins. ‘Only when you lose a talented individual do you realize how valuable they were to your department.’

Sometimes it is difficult for a star employee who has accepted a sizeable offer to adapt quickly and feel comfortable within your corporate culture. Depending upon the internal environment, some employees may begin to feel a fair amount of internal pressure from management and the board. If you have high-performing employees, you may want to encourage them through constant motivation and tokens of appreciation.

‘Every lawyer has an ego, and that ego deserves to be fed from time to time,’ Lowenthal says. ‘Often in a corporate environment, this can be more challenging to accomplish for the managing attorney. As much as the corporate bureaucracy will permit, I highly recommend trying to emulate as much as possible the positive elements of a successful law firm environment.’

Atkins agrees that most lawyers will leave if their hard work goes unrecognized, but says that employees within the legal department should also be given an extra push from the general counsel to rise beyond expectations. As the old adage goes, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

Retaining millennials

Millennials are the new wave of talent that will make up almost half of the workforce in a matter of years. According to Marc Richardson, pictured left, assistant general counsel at Burns & McDonnell Engineering, special considerations should be taken when managing millennial lawyers.

Companies are often looking for ways to diversify the scope of their legal departments, so the retention of these young lawyers presents a different type of challenge. Millennials bring a different perspective and collaborative skills to the legal team that will generally keep them in high demand and make them valuable additions, but they must be properly motivated and supported.

For general counsel, it’s a good idea to start thinking ahead and preparing for the new generation of lawyers. Technology remains a dominant force in the workplace, and members of Generation Y are most adept at using new media advances to get the job done in a timely manner.

‘Gen Y/millennial lawyers have a dependence on and preference for using technology to communicate, and enjoy collaborating and working socially,’ Richardson explains. ‘We need to acknowledge this and provide the necessary tools, training, processes, devices and technologies they expect, as well as adopting our processes and management styles to facilitate these new ways of working.’

Most millennials are searching for a career that actually matters, so assigning them relevant work that allows them to connect to others with similar values can help your company avoid losing them to competitors. Richardson says these lawyers are very focused on adding value, efficiency and creativity; they see it as their obligation to challenge standard processes and procedures, instead of merely following suit or having another lawyer walk them through a project.

‘Gen Y-ers prefer not to be constrained by programs or a myriad of administrative steps – they will function better if an assignment is clearly spelled out, with an intended purpose, deliverable and deadline,’ Richardson explains. ‘They will work together to identify potential obstacles, opportunities, and sources for help, including subject matter experts and communities of practice both inside and outside the company. But they need to know you are there for them, as a coach and as a mentor, and are aligned with their values.’

Even though some of the general counsel’s focus will be on the retention of millennials, this doesn’t mean baby boomers should be sidelined – in fact, now is the time for Generation X to start serving as a mentor and educational resource for new lawyers. The transfer of knowledge from baby boomers to millennials not only creates a robust legal department but also enables both generations to stay challenged and engaged.

‘Done right, this collaborative, cross-generational type of engagement for finding new, creative, more effective, efficient ways to get the job done – not to mention better solutions to our problems – is mutually beneficial and motivational for all staff and management,’ Richardson asserts.

Doing more with less

With cutbacks in staffing occurring more than ever and the cost of hiring outside counsel hitting an all-time high, in-house legal departments can find themselves caught between a rock and a hard place. However, legal departments being challenged to remain at their best while relying on limited resources can provide an opportunity for legal staff.

‘Like it or not, the ‘doing more with less’ mentality isn’t going to change,’ says Lowenthal, pictured right. Therefore, it’s best for  legal departments to start utilizing technology, social media and other resources to get the job done right. If a group of trained professionals in

Mumbai can satisfactorily perform a discovery function at one-third the cost of what your staff or an outside law firm can do it for, why shouldn’t they be doing it? ‘If you wouldn't consider doing something like that,’ Lowenthal warns, ‘you’d better have a response for your CEO when he informs you that half of the company’s IT function was just outsourced to the Philippines.’

There are other non-traditional sources that a general counsel should explore to get more out of the legal department for less. Law schools are brimming with fresh talent and can provide eager interns and young professionals looking for their next big opportunity, and by hiring law students, a general counsel can provide valuable hands-on training to these individuals and in turn receive additional support when needed. This route also gives your high-achieving lawyers an opportunity to supervise others on law department projects.

Retaining your legal team

Worried about your valued employees leaving you behind? AOL deputy general counsel Damien Atkins provides some tips on how to retain your best lawyers and thereby sustain a steady legal department.

• Outside development opportunities: A high-achiever needs to feel that he or she is progressing within your legal department. It’s good to encourage lawyers to further their legal education or even provide regular updates on new regulations at a company meeting.

• Work-life balance: At AOL we have instituted a ‘no-face-time policy’, which helps to relieve a lot of pressure. Working remotely is an ideal way for employees to take the initiative and do their jobs without dealing with day-to-day stress.

• Staff motivation: Striking a balance is often difficult. Lawyers develop their work ethic at law firms, while law school is built on self-motivation. Motivating staff is largely a matter of trial and error, but the underlying thread is to make the work corporate lawyers do more interesting and enjoyable. One technique I use is constant rotation of projects – if employees get the opportunity to try their hands at different assignments, they remain engaged and encouraged to do more work.

• Recognition: We have a quarterly formal recognition program that identifies employees who have made substantial contributions. Usually I nominate those who have excelled and improved in certain areas to receive an award, and believe it or not, this can be highly effective.