In-House Counsel

Don't Be A Jerk, Don't Be *That* In-House Counsel

Don't be a gunner at the office. Shut that behavior down ASAP.

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‘I have all the answers.’

By and large, I generally devote many of my columns to my trials and tribulations interacting with my non-legal colleagues. Along the way, I have even called out some of my fellow in-house counsel colleagues for their interactions with our non-legal peers.

From being too quick to scold for a minor error to paralyzing a business decision out of a desire to review a document for the hundredth time, in-house attorneys walk a fine line between being a helpful resource and the office nuisance. In order for an in-house lawyer to be a meaningful resource, they have to be a valued member of the team and must avoid the temptation to turn into that attorney.

But try as we may, sometimes our egos get the better of us and our aggressiveness and arrogance begin to shine through.

This past week, my ego won, and I turned into that in-house counsel during a meeting I would rather forget.

To set the stage, I was scheduled to meet with one of my fellow in-house colleagues and several of our non-legal colleagues to discuss an ongoing dispute with one of our contractors which we feared may take a legal turn in near future. The dispute was rather run of the mill, as was our meeting where we had scheduled 30 minutes for the non-legal team to walk us through the dispute so we could best evaluate the potential risk to our company.

Unfortunately, I was running a bit behind schedule and informed my colleague she should begin without me. When I finally arrived and entered the room, I quietly took my seat and briefly exchanged glances and smiles with my colleague and the others in the room, two of whom I had not met before.

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And then, it happened.

As if I was possessed by some gunner demon, I, unprompted mind you, spouted out that since our vendor was located in another state, diversity of jurisdiction could come into play and this could end up in federal court.

And then, only a few moments later, I began to recount the several ways in which I thought the vendor may have standing to sue.

At this point, my in-house colleague thankfully shot me the “what on earth are you doing” glance, and I was able to restrain myself from shouting out any further irrelevant comments for the remainder of the meeting.

But the damage had been done.

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Our non-legal colleagues exclusively, and rightfully, directed the remainder of the meeting to my colleague and took great pains not to even make eye contact with me, presumably out of fear it could invite another one of my interjections.

Whether it was some innate desire to show off my legal knowledge to the two colleagues I had not met before, or some desire to make up for my being late, I will never know. But I can tell you I am forever grateful to my colleague for carrying the meeting and shooting me the glance that said it all and quickly brought me back to reality.

So if my anecdotal cautionary tales have yet to convince you, please take it from my direct experience, the gunner demon lives in us all.

Recognize you too may fall susceptible to it at any time and be prepared to shut it down, or at least bring along a smarter and more sensible colleague with you to important meetings.

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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