Corporate In-House Counsel Positions
Many corporations maintain on-site legal departments comprised of attorneys who handle various aspects of the corporation's business. Although in years past, in-house counsel tended to focus on a narrow range of business issues while relying on outside counsel for most legal work, the past decade has seen a drastic change. Today, in-house counsel are expected to be knowledgeable advocates for the corporation entity in any number of diverse areas of the law, and their responsibility and substantive expertise have continued to expand at a rapid pace.
This recent trend toward handling more corporate work in-house is the result of many factors, chief among them the realization that legal matters are implicated in almost every decision the corporate entity makes. Many business entities prefer to have an attorney present throughout the decision-making process to flag issues that could cause difficulty for the corporation. Rather than using lawyers to fix problems after they arise, corporate in-house counsel are expected to foresee and prevent them from occurring in the first place. At the same time, corporate governing boards are more cognizant than ever of the high price of legal services and how legal costs impact the corporation's bottom line. For most corporations, there is an expectation that in-house attorneys will provide top-notch legal support at a more cost effective rate than the outside law firm can - or will.
Matching the growth of corporate in-house work is an increasing interest by attorneys in securing these positions. The popularity of the specialty is due in part to the perception that corporate in-house attorneys enjoy more reasonable working hours than do private lawyers, and that they have a greater level of autonomy. In truth, many in-house lawyers work similar hours to their counterparts in private practice. Corporate attorneys do, however, report greater control over when and how those hours are worked. And while corporate jobs can offer attorneys greater autonomy, the price of such autonomy is often a heavier, if not sole, responsibility for each legal issue that arises in the course of the business.
Another perceived advantage to in-house work is that attorneys are not expected to develop clients or track billable hours. But while it is true that client cultivation is unnecessary for the in-house lawyer, having only one client leaves corporate counsel more vulnerable to shifts in business strategy or mergers and acquisitions that can result in dramatic organizational restructuring. In a worst-case scenario, the corporation may liquidate the counsel's department in favor of using outside law firms for all its legal work. As for billable hours, the interest in the bottom line means that more pressure than ever is being applied to in-house lawyers to justify their costs.
In terms of salary, in-house lawyers generally earn less than their large law firm equivalents but more then their government counterparts. Again, the corporate director's responsibility to control costs is a factor in compensation rates. Nevertheless, corporate salaries tend to be quite generous and often include perks unavailable in other employment settings. Corporate general counsels can receive performance bonuses and stock options worth significant sums of money. In fact, performance-based compensation, long the norm in business, is becoming much more common for the in-house legal department
Despite the growing need for in-house attorneys, students interested in corporate practice should recognize that only 11% of corporate attorneys practice in-house, while the remaining 89% are employed by private law firms. At the same time, entry-level attorney positions are relatively difficult to obtain. Instead, a majority of in-house lawyers are culled from private law firms and government agencies after three years (or more) of experience.
Although it is unusual for recent graduates to find in-house positions, you can increase your chances of obtaining these jobs after you have gained post-graduate experience. While in school, seek part-time law clerk jobs or internships in corporate law offices to develop your familiarity with in-house practice. If you know the type of business you want to work for, choose a law firm or government placement that helps you learn about the area and brings you into contact with the industry. Because so many in-house attorneys are asked to join the corporation after impressing the owner or board members with their work for, or even against, the corporation, you may one day be auditioning for a job without even knowing it!
