firstcounsel.com
firstcounsel.com/au
Page Content
Can the company justify the up front expense on its annual budget? Why don't we continue to instruct external lawyers on a 'need to' basis? Is there enough work to justify their salary?
In fact, hiring an in-house lawyer can provide significant benefits to a business, both immediately obvious and 'hidden' benefits.
It is misleading to think that hiring an in-house lawyer will lead to cost cuts. It might - an experienced in-house lawyer with knowledge of your sector will be quickly able to determine the most cost-effective external lawyers to use as well as 'insourcing' work which you may previously have had to instruct outside counsel on.
It may be, though, that in properly managing your company's legal affairs, extra spend is needed, at least in the short term. Think of this as a preventative health measure. Good examples of incurring modest costs to prevent future calamities include registration of trade marks and other intellectual property rights and creation of proper employment policies.
Perhaps more obviously, the creation of a panel of legal advisers, managed by your in-house lawyer, can lead to significant savings and an improvement in the quality and efficiency of external legal suppliers.
Again, the value of these programmes is preventative in nature. An in-house lawyer can play a crucial part in implementing these programmes for the future health of the business and be responsible for the training and monitoring of the programmes internally.
In house lawyers have a better understanding of the business, its products and strategy than external counsel. They will also be able to be more flexible and quicker to respond to the needs of the business resulting in immediate, pragmatic business solutions.
An in-house lawyer will assume immediate responsibility for corporate transactional work as well as drafting and negotiating commercial contracts and re-evaluating procurement agreements. Having someone closer to the business in this way will mean this happens more quickly and with an immediately commercial impact. External advisers can then be brought in on specialist matters. During a corporate transaction, an in-house lawyer, managing external corporate lawyers, will effectively free up the directors of the business to concentrate on the business aspects of the deal.
Other key commercial responsibilities include monitoring the company pension, and insurance schemes, undertaking the company secretarial function and handling many property and general contract litigation matters, as well as advising on employment issues.
Why hire an in-house lawyer?
Whether to hire an in-house lawyer can be an important milestone in the evolution of a company, but before a lawyer is actually on board it is often hard for directors to envisage how a lawyer can add value to their business.Can the company justify the up front expense on its annual budget? Why don't we continue to instruct external lawyers on a 'need to' basis? Is there enough work to justify their salary?
In fact, hiring an in-house lawyer can provide significant benefits to a business, both immediately obvious and 'hidden' benefits.
Management of external legal spend on legal advisers
One of the most obvious and immediate benefits of having an in-house lawyer is to manage external legal spend.It is misleading to think that hiring an in-house lawyer will lead to cost cuts. It might - an experienced in-house lawyer with knowledge of your sector will be quickly able to determine the most cost-effective external lawyers to use as well as 'insourcing' work which you may previously have had to instruct outside counsel on.
It may be, though, that in properly managing your company's legal affairs, extra spend is needed, at least in the short term. Think of this as a preventative health measure. Good examples of incurring modest costs to prevent future calamities include registration of trade marks and other intellectual property rights and creation of proper employment policies.
Perhaps more obviously, the creation of a panel of legal advisers, managed by your in-house lawyer, can lead to significant savings and an improvement in the quality and efficiency of external legal suppliers.
Creation of legal risk management programmes and activities
Corporate governance requirements raised in the Sarbannes-Oxley Act due to the high profile collapse of the likes of Enron, Worldcom, & Andersen have placed more demand on the need for risk management and compliance programmes.Again, the value of these programmes is preventative in nature. An in-house lawyer can play a crucial part in implementing these programmes for the future health of the business and be responsible for the training and monitoring of the programmes internally.
Strategic Input
A commercially astute lawyer working closely with the business at the start of any initiative often results in a quicker and more cost-effective implementation of the business plan.In house lawyers have a better understanding of the business, its products and strategy than external counsel. They will also be able to be more flexible and quicker to respond to the needs of the business resulting in immediate, pragmatic business solutions.
General Commercial Value
Underpinning all the preventative and strategic input of an in-house lawyer is that individual's commercial input on a day-to-day basis.An in-house lawyer will assume immediate responsibility for corporate transactional work as well as drafting and negotiating commercial contracts and re-evaluating procurement agreements. Having someone closer to the business in this way will mean this happens more quickly and with an immediately commercial impact. External advisers can then be brought in on specialist matters. During a corporate transaction, an in-house lawyer, managing external corporate lawyers, will effectively free up the directors of the business to concentrate on the business aspects of the deal.
Other key commercial responsibilities include monitoring the company pension, and insurance schemes, undertaking the company secretarial function and handling many property and general contract litigation matters, as well as advising on employment issues.