In-House Counsel

Look Inside Before Going Outside

On somewhat routine matters, don’t forget to look to in-house assistance before calling in outside help.

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(Image via Getty)

The thought process for in-house counsels determining whether to seek outside help is pretty standard.

  1. How complex is the case?
  2. What is on the line for our company?
  3. How much time and how many resources do we have to devote to the matter at hand?
  4. How many attorneys do we have in-house with representative experience who may be able to assist in the matter?

The decision to seek outside help is generally more art than science. But at some point during the review process, it generally becomes clear the in-house team lacks the time or expertise necessary to adequately represent the company on a matter of import and outside help is necessary.

And while this routine thought process has generally served me well, recently a colleague of mine recommended we amend our last line of inquiry and take a more holistic view of available legal resources. After all, since everyone on the broader in-house team is a licensed attorney in the state, shouldn’t we be able to count on them to provide competent legal counsel even in areas outside of their expertise?

If you think this is rather obvious advice that we should have been employing for years, you would be underestimating the bureaucracy that comes with working in a large company.

I work in-house for a large multi-facility hospital network. Never would I think to ask one of our medical malpractice attorneys to review a contract with one of our insurance companies, nor would I think to ask them to review the latest regulation promulgated by the federal government. Yet, they likely went through a very similar contract law class that I did during law school, and they probably had a least a semester of administrative law as well.

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At a minimum, they should be competent enough in an area of law that they could lend a hand, albeit with a little coaching.

We recently decided to give this expanded view a test run on a matter we had decided we may need to engage outside counsel due to the sheer volume of potentially discoverable materials that needed review. Rather than force any extra work on an unsuspecting peer, we sent out a note to all licensed attorneys across our hospital’s network and asked for volunteers who may have time to assist for a week or two.

We received several responses to the request, and after a couple of mini-training sessions with the lead attorneys on the case, we set them off to work and anxiously awaited their results. Unsurprisingly, when we received their work back, it was actually quite good.

At a minimum, it was at least the same caliber as I would expect from a Biglaw firm that undoubtedly would have outsourced it to a document review company anyways.

For too long I have been guilty of type casting my fellow in-house attorneys and thinking they are not capable of anything beyond their limited area of practice.

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Clearly this was wrong.

Of course there will always be a role for Biglaw assistance on matters far beyond the resources of an in-house team, but on somewhat routine matters, don’t forget to look to in-house assistance before calling in outside help.

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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