General Counsel and Chief Legal Officer School

Day One - People

Defining the role of In-house Legal

• Perceptions
• The commercial context: why have inhouse capability?
• Purpose
• Roles & Responsibilities
• Vision

Anatomy 101: what makes “good” In-house Legal?

• What does “good” look like?
• Needs analysis
• Alternate structures
• Achieving a vision
• Case study

Legal team building

• Team Essentials
• Composition
• Required Resources
• Diversity
• Virtual Teams

How to recruit for success, inspire and retain

• Essential Competencies
• Personal attributes
• Core Values
• Personal development
• Inspiring others
• Retention strategies

Leadership: what it is and leadership styles

• Leadership defined
• Characteristics
• Skills and Pitfalls
• In the In-house Legal context
• Leadership Styles

Review and Feedback

Day Two - Politics

Cross-functional integration: managing key relationships

• Collaboration in practice
• Impacts
• Benefits and Pitfalls
• Essentials

Independence and commerciality

• Independence considerations
• Privilege
• Practical Considerations
• Technical adviser vs. business facilitator: maintaining credibility
• Raising commercial awareness of lawyers

Value proposition

• Perceptions and expectations
• Understanding your clients and the business needs
• Ensuring a quality offering
• Increasing efficiency
• “Selling” the service – messaging strategy
• Gaining management support

Cost reductions

• Cost reduction opportunities
• Non-legal roles
• Managed services
• Other initiatives

Getting best value from external law firms and other service providers

• Selecting an external partner
• Tenders, panels and Master Service Agreements
• Fee arrangements
• Volume discounts and other benefits
• Outsourcing

Metrics; KPIs and efficiency

• Current practices
• Types of metrics
• Management Information
• Corporate memory, record keeping and internal knowledge management
• Benchmarking
• Unmeasurables
• Feedback on performance
• Performance goals for external legal providers

Review and Feedback

Day Three - Persuasion

Practical Exercise: Team Challenge

Effective communication skills

• Methods of Communication
• Active Listening
• Observation Skills
• Communication Styles
• Communication Considerations

How to write effectively for business

• Effective writing techniques
• Check Style
• Checklist

Influence and the power of persuasion

• In-house Legal influence challenges
• Essentials
• EI – recap
• Best negotiation practices
• Ciandini’s Six Principles of Persuasion

Raising the legal bar within the business

• Identify need
• Strategies
• Tools

Refresher: Corporate Governance

• Why it matters
• Purpose
• Limitations
• Checks and balances
• How the inhouse team is instructed/used?

Risk Management

• Risk framework roles and remit
• Organisational risk appetite
• Consistency – enhancing and standardising approach
• Likelihood and impact assessment
• Risk Categories
• Risk reporting
• Mitigation and escalation
• Common issues for In-house Legal

Clinic: To discuss issues raised by participants

Recap: Best In-House Practices

Day Four - Understanding yourself and others

How well do you know yourself, your colleagues and your organisation? Gain an understanding of what makes you and others “tick” and how that impacts the ways in which you perceive and are perceived by others and how that translates to good and bad human interactions and office politics.

The Personality Puzzle

• The Big 5: OCEAN
• Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
• DiSC Profile
• Stereotypes: the “Lawyer Personality”
• Personal audit of key traits

Motivations

• Self -Motivation
• Types of motivators:
• Motivation Theories:
• Motivating others

Minimise misinterpretation & misunderstanding

• Implicit or unconscious bias
• Cross-cultural awareness
• Fast and slow thinking

Behaviours

• Learning and communications styles
• Leadership styles
• Decision-making styles
• Office politics: challenges and strategies

Understanding and Developing Emotional Intelligence

• Become self-aware about your strengths and weaknesses
• Manage yourself according to the needs of your organisation
• Be socially aware about other people, and the politics of your organisation
• Build healthy relationship management among colleagues

Day Five - Essential survival tools and techniques

It's not enough to recognise differences in personalities, thinking, learning, communication and behavioural styles; you need to be able to adapt your own style and use tools and techniques to enable you to communicate and work together successfully with other people, especially when their styles are very different from your own. On Day 5, we explore some essential survival skills.

Practical Exercise: Leadership in Practice

Collaborative Working

• Recognising team dynamics
• Team Emotional Intelligence
• Model of Team Effectiveness
• Impact on performance

Adaptive Working

• Post Covid
• Change Impacts
• Mindset and Habit
• Dimensions of Flexibility

Constructive Conflict Management

• Common sources of conflict
• Options for managing conflict
• How to have difficult conversations
• Strategies for handling unreasonable and difficult colleagues
• Forging alliances

Building Resilience

• Lawyer negativity and burnout
• Recognise what triggers your “buttons”
• Rest, recovery and recharge
• Envision choices and adjust perspective; but know when to quit
• Stress busters

Mindfulness and well-being

• Being present
• Mindfulness practices
• Well-being challenges
• Achieving balance
• Personal well-being assessment

Clinic: To discuss issues raised by participants

Building your own personal presence, credibility and gravitas

Programme Review and Feedback