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11 Int'l. In-House Counsel J. 1 (2017-2018)

handle is hein.journals/iihcj11 and id is 1 raw text is: International In-house Counsel Journal Vol. 11, No. 41, Autumn 2017, 1 How Legal Departments can Strategically Contribute to Corporate Success CHRISTIAN HAITZ Senior Group Counsel, Teka Holding, Switzerland Historically, the in-house counsel position was considered a dusty professional legal service essentially dealing with dispute resolution; rarely was the in-house counsel expected to be involved in strategic thinking2. When this statement was made in 2003, it was definitely correct for the past. Over the last 14 years, there has been a tremendous development of in-house legal services and its providers, the Legal Departments Form today's perspective, it is undisputed that the role of Chief Legal Officers and General Counsel still undergoes a shift from reactive to proactive advice, from mere providing legal advice towards joining the business team and participate in business decisions. Today, in-house counsel must not only demonstrate the technical mastery of the law but are required to take a long-term perspective, which further require knowledge of history, culture, human nature and institutions3 1. The four levels of strategy involvement of the Legal Department: Generally speaking, there are three levels of involvement for in-house counsel in the strategic process: a. Strategy Formulation In the strategy formulation process, the strategy is designed and articulated after strategic assessments. According to the surveys and interviews carried out, this is presently the level of least participation of the Legal Department. b. Strategy Implementation Implementing the strategy is defined as the process of operating in alignment with the strategic goals, directions and priorities. This is a responsibility which spreads across the entire organisation. For successful implementation, a clear understanding of the company's strategy is indispensable, but still has to be broken down to the various functions and levels. The way of breaking down can be done in a very heterogenic ways: On the one hand, it depends clearly on the maturity of the organisation, but also the type of industry and other factors are driving this. c. Strategy Firefighting The third level of strategy appears as the most common: Strategic firefighting encompass reactive, tactical measures to avoid derailing from the defined strategy and before any 'This article is a summary of an Executive MBA thesis written by the author, including quantitative research with a survey of in-house professionals and a subsequent qualitative research with in-depth interviews of nine CLO and GC. The author want to especially thank Dr. Andrew Mountfield (Brightcon AG, Switzerland) for supporting this thesis. The author can be contacted vie e-mail at Christian.Haitz@gmail.com 2 Golsong (2003). Proactivity or Reactivity - An Analysis of the Impact of Globalization on Legal Management. In Siegwarth, H. & Mahari, J. (Eds.) Management & Law. Basel, Switzerland: Helbing & Lichterhahn Verlag, p. 241 s Veasey, E. N. & Di Guglielmo, Ch. T. (2013). Indispensable Counsel: The Chief Legal Officer in the New Reality. ISSN 1754-0607 print/ISSN 1754-0607 online International In-house Counsel Journal