3 Rules Of Office Politics For Lawyers
If you cannot navigate office politics, you have virtually no chance of moving up in your organization.
As much as attorneys would like to think otherwise, when you are in-house counsel, no amount of Latin or persuasively worded legal memos can save you. If you cannot navigate office politics, you have virtually no chance of moving up in your organization.
When you are in a traditional firm, yes, office politics may still play a role, but you are judged much more on your intellect and competency. With a relatively large control group of associates performing similar tasks, spotting the comparatively outstanding attorney who should stay on the partner track is relatively easy. Likewise, identifying the attorney whose memos routinely miss the mark or come in late is also more obvious.
But as attorneys in a small in-house office, whose work is regularly reviewed by non-attorney executives, it is comparatively easier to sneak by on mediocre legal skills.
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Don’t believe me?
Next time you are in non-legal company, misuse the phrase res ipsa loquitur in an argument and see if anyone calls you on it, or if they eagerly nod along in agreement.
Perhaps to a fault, non-attorney executives trust the legal acumen of their in-house team. Most executives believe all lawyers are relatively equally qualified and are therefore easily replaceable — which means that to make a lasting and lucrative in-house career, your perceived dime-a-dozen legal skills are not enough. You had better know how to navigate office politics and be well-liked by your corporation’s executives.
This is an admittedly difficult feat to accomplish, and while I am certainly no Slick Willie when it comes to taming the beast of office politics, I have learned three Golden Rules worth repeating.
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1. Get to Brown-Nosing.
As a group, attorneys can be a bit arrogant and may view such pandering to be beneath them, but in the in-house world, it can be essential.
Next time an executive poses a relatively mundane legal question, instead of easily dispatching an answer off the top of your head, compliment them on their complex and thought-provoking question. Even if it hurts your ego to do so, it is worth it to stroke theirs. Let them feel smart for a moment; besides, we know who are the real brains of the operation in reality.
2. Know who REALLY holds the Power.
This is imperative to success as in-house counsel. An assistant who has been with the same executive for many years likely reads their e-mails, controls access to their calendar, and spends more time with them than their own family.
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If you are on their blacklist, you can bet your direct access to the executive will be limited. If you turn in an assignment late, rest assured the assistant will have no qualms telling the executive you were late. All things that add up to you being yet another replaceable attorney.
However, if you are liked by their assistant, you can count on direct access to the executive, which is of paramount importance if you are going to be successful in your role. As an added benefit, the assistant will often give you a heads up when the executive is in a particularly good or bad mood, which is especially helpful for timing the delivery of unsettling news.
3. Become a Self-Advocate.
Clearly there is a fine line here; you do not want to become that person who is always talking about their past successes or abilities. But when you are in-house, you are pegged as a one-trick pony capable of handling only legal issues. No one will approach you for assistance on non-legal matters unless you raise your hand and let them know you are willing and able to take them on.
And since in-house counsel can be viewed as easily replaceable, anything you can do to prove you are more than a JD will be to your benefit.
Of course your intellect is still important in the in-house world, but in my experience, whether you are able to fit in with the rest of the team will have the greater impact in your future success. Proving you are more than a couple of initials after your name is the Biglaw equivalent of being a rainmaker: job security.
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 [email protected].
