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Business Thinking in Practice for In-House Counsel: Taking Your Seat at the Table

Business Thinking in Practice for In-House Counsel: Taking Your Seat at the Table

Author: Catherine McGregor
Publisher: Globe Law and Business
ISBN: 9781787423268
Published In: August 2020
Format: Hardback , 423 pages
Jurisdiction: International ? Disclaimer:
Countri(es) stated herein are used as reference only

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Description
Contents
Reviews

Details

Many of the innovations and ideas that legal teams need to embrace – such as those relating to project management and use of technology – have already evolved within the wider business environment. Despite this, many general counsel and other legal leaders report that they feel unprepared to tackle key business challenges and concepts.

Business Thinking in Practice for In-house Counsel: Taking Your Seat at the Table takes a practical look at key concepts from influential business theory and illustrates how these are applicable to managing or working in an in-house legal department.

Topics covered include purpose, culture, talent and innovation, all of which intersect to provide the structure and framework for legal teams to create a competitive edge. Each chapter features an interview and case study with a general counsel and/or legal team to demonstrate how business concepts can be used in-house most effectively.

The author, Catherine McGregor, has engaged with the in-house legal market for many years as a journalist, consultant and commentator. During this time she has built close relationships with leading general counsel around the world and has observed first hand how the role of general counsel has changed and continues to change.

Business Thinking in Practice for In-house Counsel is packed with lots of real-life examples and makes essential reading for any general counsel or senior in-house lawyer seeking to develop their business skills and maximise their team’s success.

Introduction

Chapter 1: Culture

• Understanding your culture

• Key building blocks of great organisations cultures

• Introducing culture change

• The intersection of leadership and culture

• Changing culture one voice at a time

Chapter 2: Purpose

• Finding your why

• Advantages of companies and departments who have purpose

• Practical ways to use to set purpose

• Executing a vision statement

Chapter 3: Leadership

• Stepping into your first leadership role

• Leading not managing

• Ethics and leadership

• Servant leadership: hiring and managing people who are smarter than you

• Communication, transparency and influence

Chapter 4: Talent

• Ensuring you have the talent you need now and Iater

• Defining talent

• Developing talent effectively

• Feedback and reviews

• Moving on, moving out, moving up

Chapter 5: Creativity

• What does creativity mean in business?

• Developing creative thinking

• Creating the conditions for creativity

• Freedom to fail

Chapter 6: Innovation

• Thinking differently

• Bridging the gap and bringing ideas together

• Jobs to be done – using customer centric views.

• Creativity and innovation

• Using tactics of disruption

Chapter 7: Collaboration

• Silo busting

• Creating a collaborative mindset

• From client to colleague

• Incentivising collaboration

Conclusion

When a lawyer works in-house they are frequently asked to contribute far more than just legal answers to legal questions. They are asked to provide input in a wide range of ways and all with an eye ever-focused on the business itself. Lawyers, accordingly, have needed to draw upon not just legal principles, but business acumen to provide support and advice to their fellow business partners. Catherine McGregor has put together a superb resource that directly addresses this topic and in a way that is both accessible and comprehensive. I highly recommend this book for all in-house counsel who want to learn from how other counsel have applied business acumen to the in-house counsel world.

- Colin S Levy, Legal Counsel, Lookout, Legal Technology and Innovation Thought Leader

This is a must-read for any in-house counsel who wants to lead their department into the future. Catherine McGregor offers excellent insights and thought-provoking perspective about blending traditional business thinking with best in class in-house counsel practices. This book is an essential guide.

- Karen Dillon, Former editor of Harvard Business Review

Dr McGregor’s work will stimulate much thought about how businesses can attract better and more fulfilled lawyers.

- Eamonn Kennedy, Former Director of Legal Affairs RTÉ

Catherine McGregor is a thought-leader and visionary at the forefront of in-house counsel operations. She has cleared the path for future conversations about leadership, management and culture. Her insights are ones that should be treated as gems.

- Deborah Farone, Marketing Strategy Consultant and Author of "Best Practices in Law Firm Business Development and Marketing" (PLI 2019)

Modern general counsel and senior in-house lawyers are expected to be business leaders not simply good lawyers. Even lawyers with a first-rate legal education are not typically provided education on the business concepts included in this book. With her experienced lens into successful in-house legal teams, Dr. McGregor translates important business frameworks, such as purpose, culture and collaboration, to the business of leading law departments. I could not agree more with the author’s statement that "particularly for in-house lawyers – the more senior they become, the more empathy trumps legal skills...."

- Michelle Banks, Senior Advisor, BarkerGilmore, and former Global General Counsel, Gap Inc.

Catherine McGregor's insightful book focuses on the role of general counsel as business partners of CEOs on key business issues. She rightly and succinctly argues that this broader conception of a general counsel is a foundation for the inside counsel revolution which has swept the profession.

- Ben W Heineman, Jr, Senior fellow at Harvard's Schools of Law and Government, former SVP-General Counsel GE