Month: June 2016

Ten Things: Spotting, Analyzing and Managing “Risk”

It’s difficult to be part of any business and not hear about “risk.”  It’s everywhere.  Risk is the new black.  It’s on the lips of every CEO, CFO, and board member, as it should be.  And, anything that is important to the board and the C-Suite, is important to the legal department.  In fact, over the past five or so years, one of the key responsibilities businesses are placing on in-house lawyers is spotting and managing risk.  The business wants its in-house lawyers to be the ones who sniff through virtually every situation looking for risk (legal or otherwise). What this means is that, more and more, in-house counsel need to be masters of the company’s business operations and strategy (both short and long term), because you cannot successfully spot and manage risk unless you understand how the company operates and where it wants to go.

Generally, when asked about risk, most in-house lawyers respond retroactively, i.e., they talk about risk in terms of things the company has already experienced – a recent lawsuit, a data breach, an internal investigation, etc.  While this is helpful, it is only part of calculus of identifying risk.  The harder part (and the more valuable skill) is being able to look forward and see risk.  While a more valuable skill, my experience is that there is little to no training around how to “look for risk,” let alone how to evaluate it or report it out. For many in-house lawyers, it is largely a self-taught skill.  My goal here is not to write a treatise about risk or risk management.  I have read enough of those types of articles to know that they look really impressive, have complicated charts, graphs, and formulas, but most are hard to apply in the everyday, fast-paced in-house world.  I want to set out a handful of simple ideas and processes you can use to spot and identify forward-looking risk and to evaluate and manage that risk alongside the business.  This edition of “Ten Things” will discuss a few guidelines that will help you be better able to fulfill the demand from the business that you become “Risk Spotter in Chief” or, as I was often called, the “Risk Guy:” 

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Ten Things: How to Negotiate – Practical Tips for In-House Counsel

One of the most valuable skills an in-house lawyer brings to a company is the ability to negotiate.  In-house lawyers negotiate contracts, M&A transactions, litigation resolution, government/regulator inquiries, internal squabbles, and a host of other issues.  While negotiation is an important skill, it is rarely – or poorly – taught in law school (certainly here in the USA).  Meaning, unless you were fortunate enough to learn negotiation skills while employed at a law firm (and I’d wager that it is hit and miss whether your law firm truly spend time teaching negotiation skills), your ability to negotiate is largely self-taught.  Some of us get by on instinct and natural ability, some of us flounder a good bit, sometimes doing a great job, sometimes not.

I am a self-taught negotiator, picking up bits and pieces of good and bad advice along the way.  I have negotiated a large number of contracts and settlements in many different countries and I supervised those that did as well (learning as much from that process as being in the room).  One thing I learned for sure was that regardless of where you fall on the continuum of negotiation skills, there is always room for improvement.  As usual, there are some core things you need to know and understand in order to develop or improve your skills in this area.  This edition of “Ten Things” will discuss how to negotiate:

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