Managing and Developing Yourself

1. You should set goals for

• the management of legal risk within the businesses you serve
• your expertise in relevant areas of the law
• resource management, principally time and information
• superior performance as an in-house lawyer.

2. You should plan how

• to raise legal awareness
• to build your expertise
  
• to deploy your resources
  
• to build your competencies and capabilities

3. You should manage your portfolio of work by

• prioritising matters according to relative legal risk, agreed with the clients
  
• equipping business colleagues to deal competently with regular issues
  
• outsourcing work which should be handled externally
  
• delegating tasks to support staff

4. You should manage your time by

• setting time aside each month for major projects or important tasks
  
• making sure that your week includes time for preparation and follow up as well as undertaking scheduled tasks
  
• planning each day at the end of the preceding one leaving 20% free for contingencies
  
• blocking specific chunks of uninterrupted time for tasks requiring extra concentration

5. You should generate

• briefings on selected transactions or situations, both to raise awareness and be stopgaps in case of urgent need
  
• best practice guides to help you deal well with matters with which you are unfamiliar
  
• synopses on deals to assist their conclusion and cut down subsequent sleuthing
  
• a work programme to assist communication within the function and with clients

6. You should discard

• legal updates from anywhere other than your preferred sources
  
• copies of documents sent to you without an express motive, but warn the sender
  
• anything which you have not read within 3 months of receiving it
  
• invitations to pointless meetings

7. You should encourage business colleagues

• to consult on issues which merit attention on a timely basis
  
• to respect your need to concentrate on and devote time to matters
  
• to provide you with information and explanations which will ease (and not just buy time for) your tasks
  
• to provide feedback on what they find helpful and unhelpful
  
• You should limit the adverse impact of
  
• time wasting individuals
  
• time wasting activities
  
• failing to seek information or clarification on a timely basis
  
• spurious deadlines or assumed immediacy

9. You should not feel guilty about

• having interests outside work
  
• booking holidays
  
• leaving the office at the end of the day
  
• diverting your phone to voice mail or support staff

10. You should make sure that support staff

• understand your priorities
  
• are sufficiently briefed for informed communications with clients
  
• relieve you of tasks you should not be undertaking
  
• assist with information management

11. You should encourage immediate colleagues

• to share intelligence about the business and specific clients
  
• to share experience about what has gone well and badly
  
• to contribute to best practice
  
• to take ownership of areas of information which are of prime interest to them

12. You should not forget to

• do the hardest tasks when your energy level is highest
  
• relax at regular intervals, drink and eat
  
• take exercise
  
• find outlets and antidotes for stress at work

13. You should be systematic about

• keeping a list of tasks, instead of relying on your in-tray
  
• only having on your desk the papers you need for work that day
  
• only looking at e mails at set times of the day
  
• making sure that e mails are filed or deleted

14. You should leave the office knowing

• you have done what you set out to do that day
  
• what you are going to do the next day
  
• you have contributed to your company's success
  
• you are a more accomplished in-house lawyer!
  
  
  Phone +44 1420 82655