Practical LawConferences

The page will be updated with further details on the agenda once they are confirmed.

• Recruitment and development of lawyers in-house
• Why don’t lawyers make the board/become CEOs very often?
• Best way to use external lawyers is to constant competition, not panels and cosiness?
• Do lawyers spend enough time sharpening up legal knowledge and too much time on soft skills?

Most GCs and heads of legal teams find that they accept a role based on a job specification advertised, but not long after starting, a selection of new responsibilities, tasks and other expectations become apparent. So how has the specification changed and what sorts of things are your peers expected to do within their businesses?

• The board perspective: what am I looking for?
• The business perspective: what do we need?
• The recruiter perspective: what do our clients say they want?
• The GC perspective: what do I want to do?

As the general counsel, you’re expected to prioritise legal risk according to the business’ needs – this is a part of your day-to-day requirement and is a given. However, there’s more to taking a risk-based approach which often means engaging at the right level of the business. You need to know your company’s strategy so you can advise effectively.

• Risk mapping as a General Counsel
• What are the CFO and the Chief Risk Officer perspectives on risk and how do they cross over and differ with the legal team? How can you work together effectively?
• General counsel as strategic advisor: shaping the business’ risk appetite
• Using a holistic risk awareness to prepare viability statements
• Considering the different kinds of risks your business is vulnerable to and understanding the company’s strategy

Although your business’ reputation is usually controlled by a marketing and communications, it’s important the legal team offers the rest of the business some direction in how to manage threats to the business’ reputation.

• The good, the bad and the ugly: reflection on how other businesses have handled recent incidents
• Admitting when wrong: managing negative press after an incident
• War gaming your battle plan: establishing a workflow for incident management
• Getting the message right: what kinds of approaches should the business aim for?
• The legal team’s role in helping manage through volatility

As the head of the legal function, you often have to sell your ideas to the procurement team and the rest of the business to secure funding and support. What are the skills you need to make a strong and successful pitch? How can you continuously work effectively with the key decision makers to maximise success?

• The ins and outs of making a strong sales pitch
• Your role in promoting due diligence across the business
• Techniques for minimising tension between the legal function and the procurement department

Being part of a global company often means working across different jurisdictions and sometimes managing team members in a range of locations. What are the practical ways of successfully managing a culturally and geographically diverse team?

• The importance of understanding corporate cultural differences
• Tips and techniques for handing different time zones and language barriers
• Creating a sense of a holistic team across multiple jurisdictions

How much do you know about your junior team member’s career aspirations? How are you helping to facilitate their development and achieve those goals? Hear from both sides as they discuss
their goals and how those can be realised.

• Coaching and mentoring: how to
• Expectation management
• Offering development opportunities on a shoestring
• Hiring the right people in the first place
• Tips for keeping your team motivated and inspired

When a dispute or query arises in a new or difficult jurisdiction, it can be difficult to know where to start. By having a clear and organised approach, you can minimise cost and complication.

• Checklist: what do you need to know?
• Jurisdiction highlights: which are the most difficult?
• Instructing external counsel: where are the best places to search?
• Practical considerations for e-Discovery

As the general counsel, you’re often expected to simply run with changes imposed by the business, take on team members you didn’t recruit, build a cohesive team and take on work that is not within your remit. Sometimes those lead to difficult conversations or complicated relationships – but managing internal relationships is one of the most important aspects of your role. So how do you sell your function to the rest of the business and improve arduous relationships?

• Managing difficult relationships: how to have the conversations you don’t want to have
• What drives the key players in your business? How to cross generation/gender/culture boundaries
• How to decide what work your team will and won’t do
• Communicating “no” effectively to the rest of the business

The legal team doesn’t usually have the luxury of being able to prepare clear financial metrics and statistics highlighting the value it’s directly adding to the business, so how do you demonstrate your function’s contribution to the business? And, how do you ensure your team understands clearly what you do?

• What are the different ways you can measure and demonstrate your team’s value to the business?
• How closely aligned are the value of the legal team and the reputation of the business?
• Other than offering sound legal and strategic business advice, are there other areas you and your team can value-add?
• Ensuring the right people are doing the right tasks: focusing on adding value for equity partners and the business
• Being competitive: in-house legal team versus cheap legal outsourcing services