One of the hardest skills to develop as an in-house lawyer is knowing how to prioritize your work. It certainly was for me. In the in-house world, everything is urgent, and everything is important, and everyone needs their project done yesterday. We have all heard this “the sky is falling” plea from the business yet deep down we all know it’s bullshit. Not everything is urgent nor important and people need things done in a hurry usually because they screwed around and waited until the last minute to dump it on you – so now it’s your problem and not theirs (and you are the bad guy if it’s not finished on time). This has been true since lawyers first crawled out of the primordial ooze to go in-house. And it will be true long after everyone reading this has left the stage. Which means you have two options: bitch about it or try to fix it. While bitching about it feels good for a few minutes, it does not advance the ball much, i.e., you are still left with too much to do and not enough time to do it. So, my plan (after a little bit of bitching) was to figure out how to solve this ancient conundrum. And as usual, I failed a lot but over time I figured out that the key was learning how to prioritize properly. If I could learn to do that, I could spend most (but not all) of my time working on the right things at the right time. For me the “a-ha” moment was realizing that setting priorities in a vacuum is problematic. For in-house lawyers, prioritization requires a holistic approach with input from lots of sources other than your own inner monologue. Sounds hard, right? It is. But that should not discourage you from trying to crack the nut. If you have 15 minutes or so, you are in luck! This edition of “Ten Things” takes on the challenge of discussing how to prioritize your work:
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Ten Things: Ten Questions the Legal Department Should Ask the Business Right Now (2026 Edition)
Hello everyone and hello 2026! It’s time to kick off another year of “Ten Things You Need to Know as In-House Counsel.” For a number of years, I started January with my “essential issues” for in-house lawyers post, i.e., things I thought were important for in-house lawyers to watch out for over the upcoming year. It was something I did as general counsel; a good exercise to go through to help put the legal department at the front of the pack when it came to spotting risk and opportunity for the company. Last year, I changed things up and did my first “New Year’s resolutions” for in-house lawyers where I set out a number of things in-house lawyers could do over the course of the year to make themselves better lawyers and more valuable to the department (and the company).[1] I enjoyed that one, but since I like to mix things up, I am going to try out something different again this year.
I want to go back to the basics of being an in-house lawyer. For me, that means being attuned to what is going on at the company and asking lots of questions. Questions are often the most important tool in your in-house survival kit. The right questions at the right time can reveal problems that can get solved before they become big problems. Nipping things in the bud is an undervalued skill most in-house lawyers bring to the table. I think it’s undervalued because many legal departments don’t know how to market why their early intervention is so valuable to the business. You can find out more about how to solve that problem by reading my post on how to market the legal department.[2] Besides marketing skills, in-house lawyers need to spend time thinking about what types of problems may be lurking out there that can cost a lot of blood and treasure to fix. In other words, what questions should I be asking the business here in January 2026? This is the difference between legal being the brake pedal (reactive) vs. the gas pedal (proactive). You want to be the latter! I have been thinking about this over the past several weeks and have come up with a list of questions that I think all in-house lawyers should be asking the business right now. This edition of “Ten Things” sets those questions out for you, along with why they matter (to legal and to the business) and, more importantly, potential next steps:
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Ten Things: The Best Blogs, Podcasts, and Other Media for In-House Lawyers (2025 Edition)
Hello everyone and welcome to the end of 2025. It’s been a jammed packed year for me and the blog. As usual, I like to end the year with my list of the best blogs, podcasts, and “other media” for in-house lawyers. And, no surprise, there is a lot of great content – and a lot of great content generators – out there that deserve your attention. This is a far cry from what was available when I started the “Ten Things” blog back in 2014. It was pretty bleak to be honest. There were few, if any, specific resources for in-house lawyers then. Generally, there were law firm client alerts (meh…) and the Association of Corporate Counsel (not bad, but you have to pay for it…). This in-house counsel “wasteland” was a driving factor in my creating the blog. And, looking back, I have been able to stay pretty true to my goals at the time: free, practical content covering issues that matter to in-house counsel written from the perspective of someone who has sat in the chair. I continue to be source agnostic, i.e., if someone has something good out there, I will share it with you. I am happy to promote anyone’s content that helps get my points across to you or otherwise deserves your attention.
But what was a wasteland in 2014 is now a rain forest! And seeing how in-house lawyer-focused content has exploded is pretty incredible. I hope to occupy my small sliver of this space for a while longer but, as I have said before, my shelf life will expire at some point and I will simply hang up my cleats and enjoy all of the new voices coming online every week. That time is not now and I know I have at least one more year of “Ten Things” in me, so stick around for a bit longer! But enough about that, let’s get onto today’s topic. I am going to structure this post a little differently than my typical list of ten because (as I look over my notes) it just makes more sense to do that – and if there is one thing I firmly believe it is not staying wedded to a particular way of doing things if something else might work better. Similarly, in the past I tried to avoid picking my “best of” from blogs and writers whom I selected in the past. But, I realize that each year is different and someone who is an excellent writer should be recognized in 2025 just as much as in 2023 or 2024.
Lastly, before we start, keep in mind that there is nothing stopping you from making your voice heard. Starting a blog or a LinkedIn newsletter has never been easier. Write about what you know and what you love, do it consistently and, over time, your audience will find you. In other words, if you have something to say, say it (just be respectful and courteous because we need way more of that in the world today). Okay, time to get off the soapbox before it caves in and I get carted off to the hospital. Without further ado, here is my list of the best blogs, pods, and other media for in-house lawyers for 2025:
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Ten Things: An Index to All the Posts (November 2014 – August 2025)
Hello again everyone. I have been working on my annual “cool tech” post, but it’s not ready for prime time as I am still sifting through things. The amount of tech out there (cool or otherwise) is amazing. And since I want to give you my best recommendations, I am going to work on it for another week or so. Instead (and because I am a big believer in keeping to a regular publishing schedule), I thought I would put out a current index to all of the “Ten Things” posts from post number one in November 2014 to last month’s post about things to think about before hitting send. There are a lot of posts and this edition of Ten Things lists them all (which is kind of the point of an index but I digress):
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Ten Things: Ten Questions To Ask Yourself Before Hitting Send (Lessons From the Trenches)
I was cleaning out some old files in a filing cabinet (yes, that’s still a thing) and I came across some plastic cards we had made up when I was head of litigation at a large technology company many moons ago. My team and I created the cards to help the business focus on key compliance issues, i.e., providing them cards with lists of easy-to-remember rules that could help keep them – and the company – out of trouble. They were about the size of a business card (that may not be a thing anymore…)[1] and were laminated so they would last forever.[2] And here in front of me were several different cards we had prepared close to twenty years ago. They included tips on competition law compliance, how to report a violation of the company handbook, and (my personal favorite) how to write smart emails that won’t end up as Exhibit A at trial. I remembered why we created these in the first place, especially the email card: If you have ever lived through big litigation (or any litigation for that matter), you understand just how deadly a poorly drafted email can be.
And deadly is right. I lived through several painful and protracted litigated disputes, and I can attest that emails (ours and theirs) were front and center, blowing up in faces like Wile E. Coyote-endorsed ACME product. The only thing missing was a sign for free birdseed. There were lots of lessons learned by unfortunate executives (and yours truly). Back then, I decided to take those lessons and create something useful to showcase basic rules to help the business – and the lawyers – write smarter emails (and other documents). As I read through the card, I realized that I had forgotten some of the lessons. And, yes, that failure has bitten me in the ass more than a few times. So, I decided it would be a good idea to write them out here for you – and for me. This edition of “Ten Things” sets out questions you should ask yourself about the email before you hit send:
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Ten Things: What to Do When You Are Feeling Overwhelmed at Work
I have been practicing law for a long time. And even now, 30+ years into the game, there are still times when I find myself overwhelmed by everything on my plate. And it’s just as shitty a feeling now as it was as a young associate at a big law firm or as general counsel dealing with – literally – bet-the-company litigation. Fortunately, getting older comes with some advantages (besides the prospect of getting 50% off if I go to IHOP at 4:00 pm for dinner). The biggest (non-IHOP) advantage being that I have developed a lot of different ways to cope with feeling this way. And that’s good because one thing I hear a lot from the in-house lawyers I speak with is that they are having an increasingly hard time dealing with the incredible amount of work that keeps rolling down the hill – like a boulder crushing Wile E. Coyote when his ACME products backfire for the nine thousandth time. Okay, that sounded better in my head, but I know you get the picture because you’ve all been there (and some of you may even be there as you are reading this).
Given the increasing number of in-house lawyers edging ever closer to burnout, I thought I would spend some time talking through what you can do when feeling overwhelmed at the office. I am going to focus on some practical, short-term solutions to help you get out of the muck and onto solid ground in the near term – as that is typically the most pressing need.[1] What I am going to set out is all tested and true, and some combination of these ten things will very likely help you.[2] How much they will help depends on how far you are willing to go to gain some control over the situation (and I know that is not always easy to do). But hear me out and stick with me. Today’s edition of “Ten Things” takes you through what you should do when you feel overwhelmed at the office:
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Ten Things: Travel Tips for the Busy In-House Lawyer
Hello everyone and greetings from 35,000 feet! I am on the road again – my third trip in April. I think I have spent more days sleeping in hotel rooms than I have at home this month. I am not complaining at all, but I do spend a lot of time on the road. And that got me thinking about all the things that have gone wrong over many years of hard travel. It’s a lot. But, like many of my blog topics, I screwed up and then learned the lesson. The same is true with traveling. I know not all in-house lawyers travel a lot, but they do travel. And it is always better to be over-prepared than to get smacked upside the head by the cold, hard, fickle hand of Fate (she is indeed a tough mistress who enjoys smacking people upside the head). I was going to write about mentoring programs, but (as I sit here on the plane) I decided this was a more interesting topic – at least to me.[1] So, instead of mentoring tips, I am going to pass along some tips I learned (the hard way) over many years so you can travel better. I am writing this with the assumption you will carry on your luggage vs. checking a bag. First tip: Never check a bag unless you have no choice.[2] See how easy that was? But brace yourself, as there is more. A lot more. This edition of “Ten Things” sets out my top travel tips for the busy in-house lawyer:
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Ten Things: Essential Issues for In-House Counsel (2025 Edition)
Hello again everyone! As I have done for the past several years, I want to share a list of issues I believe in-house lawyers should pay attention to over the coming 12 months. I started doing this when I first became a general counsel way back when Julius Caesar took 23 stabs to the body (he should have read my blog about the Ides of March). Even though I am no longer practicing in-house, the process of trying to spot key issues is something I do every year, including in my role as CEO here at Hilgers Graben. Simply put, then as now, I like to spend time thinking about developments, trends, and issues that may have a material impact on legal departments/businesses over the course of the new year. I realize this is not something they teach you in law school (or anywhere really), so I will start by setting out the steps I followed to create my list as general counsel (and you are welcome to laugh at it, use it “as is,” or modify it to suit your own purposes):
- I started by just gathering information. I would catch up with other in-house lawyers and outside counsel, read newspapers, blogs, industry reports, attend conferences, sit in on business meetings, ask business leaders at the company, ask my team what they were seeing, and just generally pay attention to what was going on around me. Information is gold and, like Scrooge McDuck, I was (and am) pretty greedy about it.
- Once I spotted an issue that intrigued me, I looked at it from multiple angles and asked this question: How might this affect the company and the legal department? Answering this meant I had to understand the company’s goals and strategy so I could spot and manage risks and I had to think strategically (not just legally).
- From there, I made a list of the most important issues I spotted and worked them into the goals and activities of the legal department for the upcoming year. To assist me, I created multiple checklists to help quickly analyze the potential risks and strategic implications of the items on my list. Here is a shortened version of one checklist. It’s a helpful filter when you look at things coming across your desk day in and day out:
- Is this something that can create or destroy value for the company?
- How does this fit into my company’s strategic goals?
- What is the quantitative/qualitative impact of this?
- Could this be a game-changer and how so?
- Is this something a regulator might care about or lead to litigation?
- Who is impacted by this – company, competitors, vendors, customers – and how so?
- What happens if I apply game theory to this?
- Who needs to know about this in the department/company?
- How can we create a competitive advantage from this?
- Have others had problems or success with this before and what are the lessons already learned?
The answers to these questions tell you a lot about the issue you are analyzing and whether it “matters” or not. You do not need a checklist, but it’s a useful tool that can help you quickly sort through a lot of information. You can also use an Eisenhower Matrix (2×2) to plot issues. Here is one option for such a matrix (though what you put on the X-axis and Y-axis is wide open):
It’s a little clunky for sure, but it just depends on what you find most useful. Regardless of what you use to help you think through the issues, it’s really all about finding a consistent framework and repeatable process. Okay, enough of the background story – let’s get going! This edition of “Ten Things” sets out my list of critical issues in-house lawyers should pay attention to and plan against for 2025:
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Ten Things: I Am On Two Podcasts This Month – How The Hell Did That Happen?!
It has been a fun month or so for me because I had the true pleasure of appearing on two of the best podcasts for in-house lawyers. The first is “The Legal Department” hosted by Stacy Bratcher, CLO at Cottage Health. The second is the “Legal Leaders” podcast hosted by David Lancelot, CLO at LawVu. Stacy and I chatted in depth about productivity for in-house lawyers, including slaying the email monster and escaping meeting hell (as well as my go-to pump-me-up song). David and I spoke about a variety of topics about practicing in-house, including technology and the keys to being an effective in-house lawyer (and if you listen closely you can hear my dog snoring blissfully in the background). Both hosts asked outstanding questions and made it very easy for me to engage with them (and covering up my blathering). So, grab some coffee and Oreos and give them a listen. I think you will find a lot to like in both podcasts – mostly from the hosts.
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Ten Things: Solving Problems (It’s Different In-House)
One of the reasons I wanted to become a lawyer was to solve problems. The added bonus was the expectation that someone would pay me (a lot) to read and write stuff to help solve those problems. How cool is that?[1] Law school and then working at a law firm for a number of years post-graduation were both fantastic training for how to solve problems. Well, how to solve legal problems. When I finally got my chance to go in-house, I learned pretty quickly that all my “legal-problem-solving-skills” were useful but many of the problems I was called upon to help with involved only a small amount of legal-ness and a lot of “other stuff” – I’ll just call that other stuff “business issues” to save time (but if you work in-house, you know exactly what I am talking about). Unfortunately, this meant that a lot of what I thought I brought to the table was useful only part of the time, i.e., solving problems as an in-house lawyer is very different from solving them as an outside lawyer. Skip forward a few centuries, and I can proudly say that I have been a lawyer for a long time with most of that time spent in-house – I survived the crucible of fire and walked away with my sanity (and all of my toes). Some don’t.[2] Why? Because, even now, one thing I consistently see from many in-house lawyers is an inability to grasp the very real difference between what the company needs from them when it comes to solving problems vs. what it needs from outside lawyers. Many lawyers (in-house or law firm) tend to fall back on the mind-numbingly rigid dogma[3] of treating every problem like a law school exam. More troubling, even when they know it’s not a legal problem they are trying to solve, they simply don’t know the way forward and fall back into the same pit of despair and anguish. Fortunately, I screwed this up enough times over the decades (and am still coated heavily in despair and anguish) that I can share a little knowledge with you here today. That’s right. This edition of “Ten Things” discusses something I bet no one has raised with you before — how to solve problems as an in-house lawyer:
