Hallmarks of Great Law Departments

This past week we held our annual law conference to discuss the strategic plans for our law department in 2011. Our meetings prompted me to ponder the question of what makes a great law department. At risk of being overly alliterative, I would suggest that a premiere law department should have these three attributes- impact, integrity, and innovation.

By impact, I mean that the law department should be a meaningful, proactive contributor to the success of an organization. A successful department cannot simply be a passive member, a sort of referee, to the game of business. It must seek opportunities to add value, by improving processes, managing and removing risks, and cutting hard costs. A great quote I saw recently said that “business people don’t have legal problems, they have business problems that require legal expertise.” Providing this expertise to make a positive impact is the first duty of the in-house legal team.

Integrity includes, of course, honesty and ethical behavior. These attributes are sine qua non for any attorney. I would also include under the concept of integrity the idea of consistency of action and communication- that is to say, to do what one says that they will do. Furthermore, the concept of integrity encompasses correctness of advice and responsiveness to a colleague’s request. The great law department should be seen to be as dependable as a clock.

Ezra Pound wrote that “the law must be stable, and yet it must not stand still.” Innovation is the process of managing this change and cultivating openness to new ideas. One cautionary note is in order here, and that is that managers should not become entranced with seeking an industry-changing “silver bullet” innovation, but rather recognize that the best innovations may be found in improving a thousand simple day-to-day choices.

Pushing the alliteration past the breaking point, I recommend that the great law department not be intrusive, inflexible, or idea-heavy, which are the negative corollaries to the attributes noted above.

By intrusive, I mean that while the law department must have a positive impact on the enterprise, the enterprise does not exist for the law department. Being a lawyer does not exempt one from the need to behave in a collaborative manner with other stakeholders in an organization.

While there can be no flexibility in matters of honesty and ethics, a law department must be flexible in its approach to problem solving. I advise an approach of “no… because… but” for in-house lawyers. By that I mean, if one must say “no” to a particular idea, one should explain the “because” behind the “no” and then add “but have you considered this…” This method encourages flexibility and dialogue to reach satisfactory outcomes.

By idea-heavy, I mean swinging for the fences when a single will do. In other words, ideas are great, but only when they rest on a foundation of pragmatic and achievable action. Removing a few simple obstacles daily may be the best innovation of all.

I’d be interested in hearing other people’s views on what makes a law department great.