Dyed in the wool lawyer becomes corporate legal advisor

Corporate legal advisors have little courtroom experience and most people feel courtrooms are out of bounds for everyone but lawyers. Even legal advisors who practice law also, never see much action in court. Many legal advisors and many lawyers seeking to become legal advisors, think it a shame. It must be very annoying, not being able to get stuck into it once your company gets involved in a court case. Especially, when you consider the fact that a court case gets the Board of Directors’ full attention. I’d say, looking on helplessly is probably not the best of career moves.

On the other hand, it is a good thing legal advisors do not perform in court and for a number of reasons.

First of all, let us look at a legal advisor’s most important tasks. Nine out of ten times, the legal advisor is responsible for keeping a company’s risks under control. This takes place at the start of work procedures: deals are made, tough bargaining takes place, contracts are drawn up, plans are made and so on. No conflict in that. No legal opponents, just legal partners.

It is here that legal advisors show their worth. Tackling risks early on means less disputes or court cases. In turn, this saves you money and that’s what it’s all about.

However, in the event of a court case, it would be wise for a legal advisor to leave his wig off. Simply because he is not used to going to court and fighting out court battles just isn’t his job. Not taking into account his right to remain silent, as this is a different story altogether. More importantly, why should a legal advisor go to court while there are lawyers who don’t either? For example in mergers and takeovers. A Board of Directors would be wise in letting the legal advisor do his own job.

No room for fun lawyering
Too bad for the legal advisor wanting to star in the courtroom, but in most companies there is simply no room for fun lawyering. Apart from this, going to court for his employer wouldn’t be wise from a career point of view either. If things go wrong, there is the possibility of his company career being destroyed. At worst, a lawyer will lose his client when performing poorly, a legal advisor on the other hand will put his job at stake. Expensive bit of fun, I’d say.

Ruud Harinck
Managing Partner