Corporate Practice Series Portfolio No. 95, Managing the Corporate Legal Department: How to Create Plans, Develop Processes, and Lead the In-House Legal Team, describes the legal and business skills needed to effectively lead and manage a corporate legal department. It begins with a discussion of the evolution of the role of in-house counsel and the ethical issues that they frequently encounter in their work. The portfolio goes on to discuss specific management issues that are relevant to in-house counsel, including, among others, strategic planning, organization of the legal department, hiring and retaining lawyers and staff, resource management, budgeting, and contract management. The portfolio also discusses insurance for and indemnification of in-house counsel.

Corporate Practice Series Portfolio No. 95, Managing the Corporate Legal Department: How to Create Plans, Develop Processes, and Lead the In-House Legal Team

I. Introduction

II. Leadership and Management
   A. The Role of the General Counsel and Corporate Counsel
       1. Evolution of the in-house counsel role
       2. Changing corporate legal risks and regulation of corporations
       3. The modern corporate counsel
       4. The modern legal department
   B. Legal Department Leadership and Management
       1. Leadership defined
       2. Management defined
       3. Combined leadership and management in your company and department, for general counsels and corporate counsel

III. Legal Ethics
   A. Who is Your Client: In-House Counsel Ethical Obligations and Representation Issues
   B. Attorney-Client Privilege
   C. Negotiating With Non-Lawyers
   D. Qualification and Unauthorized Practice of Law

IV. Management Issues for In-House Counsel
   A. Overview
   B. Key Management Concepts and Practical Tips
       1. Know your business
       2. Communication skills
       3. Risk management
           a. Identify the risk
           b. Assess the risk
           c. Manage the risk
       4. Knowledge management, lean six sigma, and other cutting edge techniques
           a. Knowledge work and knowledge management
           b. Six sigma, lean, and lean six sigma
           c. Lean knowledge management
       5. Emotional intelligence

V. Legal Department Strategic Planning
   A. The Planning Process
   B. Developing Your Company-Specific Mission and Goals
   C. Understanding Your Department Model
   D. Putting Your Plan Into Action
   E. Measuring and Demonstrating Success

VI. Organizing the In-House Legal Department
   A. Organization Chart, Roles, Titles
   B. Reporting Relationships
       1. Whom the general counsel reports to
       2. Who reports to the general counsel?
       3. General counsel relationship with board
   C. Legal Department Responsibilities and Work Allocation
       1. Activities and disciplines covered
       2. Department organization and division of labor
   D. The Global Legal Department
       1. Jurisdictional diversity
       2. Professional diversity
       3. Finding common ground
           a. Create a single reporting line for legal professionals
           b. Create a single IT platform for all lawyers
           c. Bring the team together physically on a regular basis

VII. Building and Managing the Legal Team
   A. Recruiting and Hiring
   B. Key Requirements and Characteristics for In-House Counsel
       1. The corporate perspective
       2. The individual's perspective
   C. Diversity and Inclusion
   D. Training, Career Development, and Pro Bono
       1. Training
       2. Career development
       3. Pro bono
   E. Compensation
       1. Overview of hiring and compensation trends
       2. Hiring focus: skills and specialization
       3. Domino effect: impact on compensation
       4. Retaining top talent

VIII. Resource Management: Effective Use of Outside Counsel and Alternative Legal Support
   A. Introduction
   B. Selecting and Managing Outside Counsel
       1. Selecting outside counsel
           a. Shift work to smaller firms
           b. Shift work within the same firm
           c. Preferred provider panels
           d. Fee negotiations
       2. Retaining and engaging
           a. Retention and engagement agreements
           b. Outside counsel guidelines
           c. Conflict waivers
           d. Lawsuits against employees
       3. Managing outside counsel
           a. Early case assessment
           b. Matter budgeting
           c. Matter reports
           d. Review of pleadings, discovery, and other filed documents
           e. Closing matter and outside counsel evaluation
       4. Terminating outside counsel
   C. Eliminate, Outsource, Automate, or Delegate
       1. Eliminate low value work
       2. Legal process outsourcing
           a. Offshoring and unbundling
           b. Who, what, when, and how
           c. Outside counsel
           d. Preferred providers
           e. The dark side of outsourcing
       3. Automate commodity work
           a. E-billing
           b. Contract and matter management
           c. Knowledge management
       4. Insourcing and contract employees

IX. Budget Management
   A. Introduction
   B. Pre-Budget Strategy Considerations
   C. Departmental Budgeting
   D. Matter-Level Budgeting
       1. Level of detail
       2. Drivers of a matter-level budget
       3. Matter-level budget templates
       4. Matter-level budget development
   E. Managing the Departmental and Matter-Level Budgets
       1. Reviewing budget reports
       2. Updating the matter-level budget
       3. Updating the department budget
       4. Using budget-based metrics
   F. Alternative Fee Arrangements
       1. Why use AFAs?
       2. Types of AFAs
           a. Blended or discount rate
           b. Fixed fee
           c. Contingency fee
           d. Hybrid arrangement
       3. How to implement AFAs
           a. Evaluate
           b. Analyze
           c. Identify
           d. Establish fee arrangement
           e. Monitor
   G. Conclusion

X. Contract Management Process
   A. Introduction
   B. Process Development
   C. Team Assignments and Work Allocation
   D. Matter Intake and Setting Priorities
   E. Diverting Non-Critical Work, Automation, Streamlining, and Delegation
   F. Approval Process and Signature Authority

XI. Digital Management
   A. Introduction
   B. Records Management and Records Retention
       1. Start at the top
           a. Business case: executive buy-in
           b. Selecting and training a cross-functional team
       2. Building and implementing a retention schedule
           a. Assessing current conditions
           b. Identifying information and records
           c. Quality control
       3. Developing a records and information governance policy
           a. ESI in general
           b. Structured and unstructured data
           c. Vital records
       4. Legacy cleanup volume correction strategies
       5. Protecting sensitive information
   C. e-Discovery
   D. Managing Litigation Holds
   E. Technology Management
       1. Types of technology and in-house requirements
       2. Budget
       3. Implementation

XII. Litigation Management and Insurance and Indemnification for In-House Counsel
   A. Introduction
   B. Litigation Management
       1. Early case assessment
       2. Selection of counsel
       3. Litigation or document hold
       4. Pre-litigation preparation through litigation
   C. Insurance and Indemnification for In-House Counsel

Corporate Practice Series Portfolio No. 95, Managing the Corporate Legal Department: How to Create Plans, Develop Processes, and Lead the In-House Legal Team

Practice Tools
Practice Tool 1 “‘Upjohn' Warnings”
Practice Tool 2 Documents to Understand Your Company's Business
Practice Tool 3 Matter Checklist (Litigation)
Practice Tool 4 Request for Proposal (RFP)
Practice Tool 5 Retention Agreement
Practice Tool 6 Outside Counsel Guidelines
Practice Tool 7 Initial Matter Report
Practice Tool 8 Initial Budget Report
Practice Tool 9 Matter Closing Report
Practice Tool 10 Vendor Checklist
Practice Tool 11 Sample Budget Forms
Practice Tool 12 Online and Reference Materials