Clients are desperate for excellent written legal advice. The clearer the advice, the easier their job is. It's important, but it isn't easy. Here, I'll provide some recommendations about how to do it. Caveat: Reading about writing is of limited value. So, my primary

Last updated: [date] Goals * Deliver timely, excellent, delightful advice; * Deliver timely, excellent, delightful work product; and * Create an efficient legal sub-function to operate at scale. Areas of Ownership * Client: [Sub-Function] owns the relationship between Legal and [name of internal client (e.g., Product, Comms, Marketing Analytics, etc.)] Skills Development Skill

tl;dr * Viewing setbacks as opportunities makes you happier and helps you grow as a lawyer. * If you can’t adopt a setbacks-as-opportunity mindset, it’s worth considering why; you may not be viewing “growth” as a key part of your role. * As a leader, adopting a setbacks-as-opportunities mindset will

Paul Graham, the famous co-founder of YCombinator, advocates for writing about the things you know. [http://www.paulgraham.com/words.html] I agree with that advice. Here, I want to emphasize and expand upon some of his points for those in in-house legal roles. Writing Helps You Figure Things Out

tl;dr Whenever you ask for something, giving a reason will: 1. get you better responses; 2. reduce people's feelings of being told what to do; 3. teach your clients to help themselves next time; and 4. allow you to check your work. Whenever I ask for something–

A great legal sub-function should have: 1. The right goals, 2. People on the team with a set of key skills, 3. The infrastructure to operate at scale, and 4. Explicit expectations about what to escalate and how quickly to respond. This post outlines my current best thinking on these