10 takeaways from this year’s In-house Legal Summit

From these panels and sessions, the former ILANZ president has shared with NZ Lawyer the following 10 top tips from speakers at the summit:

• Compliance with the law is not enough. In-house lawyers should ask themselves if the proposed action or behaviour lives up to community expectations.
• Get bad news to senior leaders and the board quickly and calmly – don’t catastrophise.
• Present in the same way that other members of the executive do – use plain language, dashboards, traffic lights and data-driven evidence.
• Focus dedicated resources on improving delivery of legal services through legal operations.
• Check in with your internal business clients – are you over-lawyering, under-lawyering or right-sizing your advice?
• The standard you walk past is the standard you accept – encourage a speak-up culture.
• Teach a person to fish – lead your internal clients towards self-service for low value, low risk work through templates, guidance and training.
• Be a good client for your external providers and support their work/life choices.
• Keep stretching your people including in non-legal areas and create future general counsel.
• Being a lawyer doesn’t mean you have to have all the answers. Don’t be afraid to show your vulnerability – it makes you a better leader.

Helen Mackay, Juno Legal director