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2 Int'l. In-House Counsel J. 654 (2008-2009)

handle is hein.journals/iihcj2 and id is 1 raw text is: International In-house Counsel Journal Vol. 2, No. 5, Autumn 2008, 654-659 From private practice to In-house - making the transition ALICE CHAN General Counsel and Company Secretary, Pacific Century Premium Development Limited, Hong Kong Most people think that being in private practice is much more demanding or difficult than being in-house. In many ways this is true, such as routine working hours, complexity of advice given and the need to do business development and administrative work on top of billable work. Some lawyers would say that the absence of billable targets and time sheets alone makes in-house an appealing job. Having turned in-house myself four years ago, I am inclined to say that being in-house has its own set of challenges some of which may not be less demanding than in private practice. Below are some of my observations and thoughts. The in-house legal function In order for the legal function to work effectively, it is important for it to have the trust and respect of the business people, in very much the same way as a private practice lawyer needs the trust and respect of his clients. Such trust and respect does not come with the job or title and has to be built up through the work of all lawyers in the legal function. This requires the lawyers to act with competence and integrity. As in-house counsels have only one client they have to demonstrate such competence and integrity on a consistent and continuing basis, as they do not have the luxury of developing new clients if things do not work out with the current one. Irrespective of the size of the company and the nature of its business, it would be helpful to set out clearly the scope of work and responsibility of the legal function. This will help prevent things from falling into the crack and prevent arguments between different functions as to who was responsible if something went wrong. This often takes the form of a set of written policies and procedures which has been endorsed by the board or senior management. When setting such policies and procedures, it is important for the legal function to discuss the business and operational concerns and needs of each business unit, and match those against the concerns and requirements of the board and the resources available to the legal function. Management buy-in is critical to the successful implementation of any legal policies and procedures. One would be amazed to find out how many ways the business people can come up with to circumvent the rules or to comply with them in form but not in substance. Furthermore, training for all relevant staff to assist them in understanding and complying with the rules should be offered. ISSN 1754-0607 print/ISSN 1754-0607 online International In-house Counsel Journal