In-House Counsel

Once You Engage Outside Counsel, Use Them!

In-house lawyers, keep your egos in check and work together with your external partners.

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Recently two of our more-junior attorneys came into my office and began debating one of our pending cases.

The facts of the particular case matter little, but suffice it to say they were engaged in a full-throated debate on case strategy and wanted my input on how they should respond to the plaintiff’s most recent demand letter.

As I sat back and began to reflect on their arguments, it hit me. I had heard the facts of this particular case before, and I was quite certain we had made the decision to retain outside counsel to handle the matter.

To ensure I was not mistaken, I incredulously asked if this was indeed the same case I was thinking of, and if so, why were they debating the issue rather than kicking it to our outside partners.

“It sure is,” one of them responded, “but we have been on enough calls with outside to have kept up with the case, and this is such a straightforward issue, we thought we could respond directly and save us a few dollars in the process.”

While I thanked them for their fiscal stewardship of our company’s dollars, I curtly ended the meeting and instructed them to send the matter to our outside firm.

Although I wish I could say this was an isolated incident during my time in-house, it happens to be quite common. We attorneys are a prideful bunch and may often default to our desire to own an issue rather than to call for outside reinforcements.

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I have been guilty, on more than one occasion, of declining to reach out to a retained outside colleague for a myriad of reasons, ranging from fear of the billable hour to the simplicity of the matter. But the longer I have stayed in my in-house role, the more I have come to value an effective outside partner.

To my fellow in-house counsel, it is imperative to remember to keep your own egos in check and those of your colleagues. While, yes, in some matters outside counsel get brought in for their expertise, they also get brought in due to a resource they have more of: time.

Remind your colleagues that an outside presence is not indicative of an in-house failure or lack of competence, but rather a lack of resources. Viewing outside as an extension of your own team will only help benefit your single client in the long run.

And to outside counsel everywhere, I recognize you have a particularly difficult client to deal with: other lawyers.

The best outside partners I have worked with have gone above and beyond to communicate with the in-house team on even the most mundane of details. From a simple email to a check-in for updates, to turning to us for sign-off on relatively routine matters, keeping your in-house client engaged in the process can go a long way towards engendering a sense a goodwill and teamwork.

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Rather simple and idealistic advice? Sure. But in the heat of a contentious case, it can often be forgotten.

Besides, even if outside counsel is an expensive resource to have, in the grand scheme of a large lawsuit, what’s a few more billable hours amongst friends?

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.

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