The In-House Career Ladder Stepping Stool
The career ladder for in-house counsel is more like a stepping stool with a few rungs at wildly intermittent intervals.
The career ladder is a trusted cornerstone of any corporation. Employees are rewarded for their hard work with small and steady promotions. There is typically a clearly defined process to climb to the next rung, and plenty of room to accommodate more than one person on a rung at a time.
Sadly, for in-house counsel, the ladder looks more like a Frank Gehry-designed stepping stool, with just a few rungs placed at wildly intermittent intervals.
Generally, those working in corporate in-house legal departments have made a conscious decision or effort to go in-house. Often the head of the department was lured from Biglaw by the prospect of comparable pay and better hours. Many of the associate counsels may have made similar decisions to join from Biglaw, or they simply desired to work in a specific industry or for a particular company long before they earned their JD.
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Of course there are exceptions, but by and large, those working in-house are there by choice, which can produce a relatively low turnover rate, resulting in the Gehry-esque career ladder. This can create a “career envy” tension with those non-in-house colleagues who seem to reach extraordinary heights on their defined career ladders at a comparatively rapid pace.
Even Biglaw has its own regimented seven- to ten-year career ladder for its junior lawyers. Regardless of whether or not an associate ultimately makes it as a partner, at least they do not have to worry about their next move, as it has already been carefully planned for them. Heck, even if they are shown the counsel path instead of the partner one, those same associates can simply look up their respective firm’s salary plan on Above the Law to know what their future holds.
During my time in-house, I have seen enough Bob’s Online University graduates scale the non-legal career ladder fast enough to cause me to examine my own decision to remain on the in-house path.
As fate would have it, I was recently offered a significant promotion within my organization, with the caveat that I would no longer be designated as in-house counsel.
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On one hand, I had the opportunity to hop on the traditional career ladder I had privately coveted for years in an attempt to take the career express lane. On the other, I made the conscious decision to attend law school (and take on unfathomable amounts of student loans) with the hopes of gaining a position similar to the one I now held — a position I truly enjoy, where I can practice as an attorney on a daily basis.
Would it be worth it to toss aside my legal background just to advance at a faster pace?
The fact that ATL still, for reason I can’t comprehend, allows me to grace its pages betrays the answer to the question, but I ultimately decided to remain in-house.
Each day I am able to debate issues of legal import with our department’s general counsel. I am routinely confronted with those issues of first impression our law professors said we would be unlikely to encounter in the real world. And I have the opportunity to manage my own in-house team members, who likewise made the decision to forgo the comforts of a traditional career ladder to remain in the legal world.
As in-house counsel, we are the department all other departments turn to when they do not have an answer. We have the ability to effect great change and are one of the few departments that can tell organization leadership no. Regardless of how high some of those non-legal colleagues climb, they may never find themselves in a similar position.
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Yes, sometimes it would be great to know when and where my next promotion might come, and I am sure my team members would like to know as well. But given all that we as in-house are entrusted with, I am happy to wait until that next unknown rung on the in-house stepping stool opens up.
Stephen R. Williams is in-house counsel with a multi-facility hospital network in the Midwest. His column focuses on a little talked about area of the in-house life, management. You can reach Stephen at stephenwilliamsjd@gmail.com.
