5 Soft Skills Litigators Should Master Before Going In-House

In a recent job posting for in-house counsel at Virgin Orbit, the job description read “sorry, no litigators” and I loved it.

As attractive as it is for litigators to want to join in on all the sexy corporate action, not all lawyers are built to work in-house. While in-house counsel and litigators both share legal subject matter expertise, each type of attorney has their own differentiators in terms of style, approach, communication, and demeanor. Litigators who want to go in-house have two options: 1) join a company and boss who are prepared to teach you how to succeed as an in-house attorney; or 2) take the time now to master the important soft skills that truly set in-house counsel apart from other types of attorneys.

When I was serving as in-house counsel for a fast-growing electric vehicle startup, I helped the General Counsel hire seven attorneys in the span of just a few weeks. We had a fundamental difference in our hiring strategy. I was looking for experienced in-house counsel to join the team. Coming from big law himself, he was looking for big firm litigators. As a result, our hiring pool contained a juicy mix of talent. The attorneys with in-house experience integrated quickly, whereas the litigators (as smart and savvy as they were) had some trouble adjusting to the corporate world. Litigators had a hard time communicating with non-attorneys because they were still using big fancy legal words, hiding away in the legal office to avoid all human interaction, and using only one method of communication — that of someone who was about to sue you. Yikes! The overall legal team became incompatible and the business suffered as a result.

I’m not saying litigators can’t make really great in-house counsel. What I am saying is that it does not come naturally to them, the same way that being a really great litigator would not come naturally to a seasoned in-house attorney (myself included). Attorneys on the market for an in-house job and legal hiring managers looking to expand really need to evaluate whether the attorney has the right soft skills to succeed in-house and, if not, whether they are both willing to put in the time, effort, and training to get there.

Really great in-house attorneys naturally possess these five traits that litigators should master before going in-house:

1. Speak Plain English.

You know exactly what I mean. Your target audience is not opposing counsel, they did not go to law school for three years, they did not suffer through the bar exam, and they certainly did not volunteer to jump into the boxing ring with you. Really great in-house counsel knows when to turn the lawyer speak switch on and off. On when negotiating terms and conditions with a supplier’s counsel. Off pretty much the rest of the time. Learn how to speak plain English by using simple vocabulary to communicate with non-attorneys and being mindful of when to flip the switch.

2. Tone Down the Ego.

Everyone has an ego. Especially attorneys. Yes, even you. I’ve come across plenty of litigators who flaunt their egos around every chance they get, “Do you know how long I’ve been practicing, young lady?” This type of ego blasting does not work in the corporate setting. Legal is not the boss, the CEO is. You simply cannot have a bigger ego than your CEO. Learn how to tone down the ego by prioritizing the company’s success over your own and being resilient in the face of rejection.

3. Open Up.

These days, more and more companies are adopting a no-office-policy. Everyone, including the CEO, has an open desk area. These types of policies are meant to spur collaboration amongst team members, regardless of rank or specialization. But legal teams always seem to argue that they are the exception because of “attorney-client privilege.” Why can’t they just use a conference room for those types of conversations? Because the truth is that most attorneys don’t like interacting with people and will do whatever they can to hide away behind a closed door. I’ve seen four or five attorneys cram into a tiny fishbowl room just to avoid interacting with people. Learn how to open up by moving your desk so you’re more physically accessible to your clients and can build trust and transparency with them.

4. Build Powerful Presentations.

Companies love Power Point presentations and so do really great in-house counsel. Its kind of like a trial. There’s an opening statement (introduction), witness testimony (data and reasoning), closing argument (next steps), and a decision (executives or board). However, many attorneys don’t know how to use Power Point or other technical tools the right way. If you are going to present on a sophisticated topic to sophisticated people, you should know how to use technical tools with some level of sophistication. When I served as sole legal counsel for a consulting firm, I was lucky enough to be trained as a project manager and learned invaluable technical skills that I continue to use on a daily basis as in-house counsel. Learn how to leverage technical tools like Power Point by taking online courses, watching how-to tutorials, and practicing on low profile matters.

5. Influence Through Training.

Really great in-house counsel can educate and influence their clients to improve legal compliance. Employee trainings are the number one most effective way to do this. Some attorneys get frustrated when a client keeps asking the same question over and over again. If you start to feel like a broken record, that’s a sign of one thing and one thing only — your client does not understand you. Instead of rolling your eyes, take it as valuable intel that your clients need some extra training in this area. When I discovered a lack of internal compliance with our intellectual property strategy, I put together a training called IP & IPAs where I used IPAs (yes, beer) to demonstrate important legal concepts to engineers in a non-conventional way that inspired them to engage in discussion and retain information. Learn how to educate and influence by listening to your clients and facilitating employee trainings that are interactive and thoughtful.