By Lucy Morris
There are many pathways to becoming an in-house lawyer, as well as a huge variety of scope in each role. Gone are the days where it was a work-life-balance option; nowadays, it’s a pathway for creative and strategic lawyers to advise on a breadth of complex and challenging legal matters that help drive growth of a business.
The tech space is dynamic and offers the opportunity to work as a strategic business partner, shape innovative products and work with diverse teams. Although, every opportunity is distinct. In-house is a different world to private practice, and finding and preparing for the right role can be challenging.
Skill shifts and mindset changes
Private practice often encourages specialisms and niche areas, where you act as an expert, finding the 99% answer to an issue with an abundance of resource to divert to, if needed. This shift has less of an impact for the typical commercial and corporate lawyers that switch sides, but nevertheless, lawyers must accustom themselves to getting almost all of the answer to a breadth of questions instead.
Looking beyond the core legal work, in-house roles require several adjacent skills. There’s an abundance of discussion around legal’s place within a business, as some teams are viewed as speedbumps to the ambitions of the business. Understanding the priorities and risk tolerance of leadership and the GTM teams is typically the biggest challenge for lawyers making the move from practice (although, it’s not easy for the lateral in-house moves either). This is as much a skill development as it is a mindset shift, from providing extensive detail for every outcome, to explaining legal concepts without jargon and offering practical solutions.
When preparing or interviewing for an in-house role, it’s as important for them to evaluate your position as it is for you to understand how they operate within the business. Asking questions to understand how they collaborate cross-functionally with non-legal teams and how they engage with external counsel will paint a picture of the daily work in the role. Equally, highlighting examples where you’ve managed fast-changing environments and acted commercially will be key to proving you the right candidate.
Career and compensation progression
Progression opportunities, in terms of title and seniority; new skills; management and leadership and opening doors to other senior strategic roles, are all potential options. Of course, there is the traditional responsibility progression that comes with titles (Counsel → Senior Counsel → GC, for example) but these can differ drastically depending on the size of the organisation. Within scale-ups, there are opportunities for mid-level lawyers to prove themselves and develop quickly and lead teams, but we also see senior lawyers manage increasingly complex scopes without the heavy titles, too. It’s not the lock-step progression that’s offered in private practice and I would encourage lawyers to take a view on what the role entails and explore how the day-to-day might develop over time more holistically.
The market is seeing a new era of what’s expected of an in-house lawyer, from legal ops and AI integration to General Counsel with an additional C-suite or HR title attached to their scope. The well-trodden paths of moving into a quasi-compliance, risk or operations role is there, but we’ve seen lawyers team up with their business development colleagues, move into policy, partner closely with their CFO and few step into founder shoes themselves.
Although private practice lawyers often take some form of a compensation drop when they make the initial move in-house, the industry has a lot to offer financially as you develop. The tech industry typically includes an equity component, on top of base salary, bonus and other cash allowances. We’ve seen matched pensions at 18% recently, so understanding the whole picture is important. Overall packages have become more competitive, with large corporations at the higher end of the spectrum. If you’re considering a move in-house and want to understand more about the market standard of compensation packages, feel free to reach out.
Where to start
Resumes are a still a key part of exploring opportunities, and you’ll need to highlight relevant experience to support your application. Stand-out CVs focus on individual impact in any matter or role and are not full of buzz words or jargon.
It’s worth attending industry events and networking within in-house communities that operate in your sector – you might be surprised by different career paths and how doors have opened for others (a pure competition lawyer now a GC of a fantastic tech business springs to mind).
As always, maintaining relationships with recruitment professionals is important. If you have any questions or want to explore a move in-house, have your CV reviewed or discuss the market, please reach out for a confidential conversation.
Tel: 07947857468
Email: lucy.morris@mrasearch.co.uk
