Disclaimer: May cause headache

[sallyawp]

<p>The following are some exerpts from an article published last week in New York Lawyer:</p>

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The ABCs of GC Wannabes’ CVs

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For corporations looking for lawyers, it’s a buyer’s market, so they can be picky about who gets in-house legal jobs.</p>

<p>“Everybody wants to go in-house,” said Raj M. Nichani, vice president of Hughes & Sloan Inc., a 19-year-old Atlanta-based legal search firm. “There are not enough jobs.”</p>

<p>Four other legal recruiters confirmed this assessment, noting that while law firm jobs are plentiful, in-house positions make up less than 10 percent of the openings they fill but attract 15 to 20 extremely well-qualified applicants for each one.

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here are some indicators that lawyers have the right stuff to succeed in-house.

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1. The right transactional experience. “The first thing we obviously look for in a GC are his or her legal skills,” said Hughes. “I think most of the GC’s that we’ve placed have come from a corporate securities background.”

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“They never want to pay us a fee to find someone who’s going to grow into the job.”

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2. The right values. This would depend upon the match between company and attorney, but generally would require a certain level of personal development, particularly for the GC. “When you think about a general counsel, the highest legal officer of a company, it’s a prerequisite to have maturity, judgment, vision and leadership skills,” said Hughes.

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3. Sarbanes-Oxley Act knowledge.

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4. The right management skills. In-house lawyers take on responsibilities for a staff if they have one.

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“It’s difficult to find somebody right out of a law firm that has budget experience,” said Hughes. “Have you ever fired anybody? Have you ever hired anybody? Do you have a track record of developing subordinates?”

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5. Litigation stars need not apply. In-house lawyers do not try cases, and they naturally want to stay out of court. If they have to be there, they use outside counsel for litigation.

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6. Willingness to accept a hefty pay cut. “Compensation is not as good in-house,” said Rice. “They have to be willing to take a significant cut in pay.” Nichani said he is seeing salaries for mid-level in-house lawyers in the $120,000 to $140,000 range, but he thinks they should be in the $150,000 to $180,000 range.

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7. Willingness to accept more responsibility. While the hours of an in-house job might be more predictable – taking kids to school or having dinner with their family is easier to plan – the pressure might be greater. “A lot of the time, associates assume they’re going to have an easier schedule and a quality-of-life change for the better. The fact that they don’t keep a time sheet is appealing, but it’s a different sort of pressure,” said Newton. “If you’re somebody who wants to cut back and not work as hard going in-house, you’re probably not the right candidate.”

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8. Interest in the business. Learning the business – and taking a genuine interest in it – is a key to success for a GC.

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9. Willingness to take risks. Corporations sometimes go out of business, downsize or have trouble paying their bills. Rice said one reason some of the people he has placed in-house have called him back is that they’ve been laid off.

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10. Ability to get along with all sorts of people. “A law firm is not going to hire an outright jerk,” said Graff, adding that if an attorney can bring in a lot of revenue, “the definition of jerk might not be as strict.” It’s different in-house, where the GC must work with every department, other managers and their staffs as well as CEOs and board members.

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