Efficiency counts, soft skills make difference

In March, the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) hosted an educational programme in Shanghai titled Managing Your Career. In-house lawyers from the city gathered to discuss the evolving responsibilities of the in-house position, networking best practices, and how an in-house career path can be shaped by a supportive corporate law department.

The most successful corporate legal departments today are value-focused. They demonstrate value to their internal clients and ensure they achieve value from their outside counsel. They are strategic, constantly looking to improve processes, add technological solutions and achieve better results. These departments are also nimble, skilful and supportive of developing their talent under strong general counsel (GC) leadership. The very best GCs, meanwhile, are more than efficient; they are effective leaders who add value to the company.

ACC members from the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region frequently connect to discuss law department management improvement efforts at in-person events such as the above-mentioned programme in Shanghai, and through virtual programmes such as the webinars and conference calls held by the ACC Law Department Management Committee. And although ACC tracks legal department trends worldwide, certain characteristics stand out in Asia this year related to law department spending and budgets, hiring trends, development of non-legal skills, and the role and preferences of the department’s chief legal officer (CLO) or GC.

Veta T. Richardson is the president and chief executive officer of the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC). The association has an international membership of more than 40,000 in-house lawyers at more than 10,000 organizations in 85 countries, serving for corporate lawyers at 98% of the Fortune 100 and 51% of the Global 1000