“Some of them have problems with the basics. I don’t want my external counsel to just play lawyers. I give them work and I get the impression they give me advice with one eye on their cost agreement”Peter Elliot, Fitness First
But it is not only the flow of work that has increased. The types of matters that in-house lawyers are handling has also become increasingly diverse.
“The flavour of work has shifted. In the upturn we were looking more at acquisitions and fresh investments, but now the focus is more on meeting the individual needs of the business. Now we are looking more at receivables and the deferral of projects and, of course, litigation as well.”
While the work that Ingram and his team are handling now may be categorically different than in the past, the work being done by the in-house team at one of the world’s largest investment banks follows the flow of the international economic environment. “The work now has a different spin to it. Market volatility has created different issues in matters that were going since before the global financial crisis took hold,” says the regional general counsel at a US-based investment bank, who declined to be named. “Some of our lawyers who were previously doing CDO originations and advising on the front end of M&A transactions are now following on with back-end work, litigation, private bank work and similar things.”
But whether the work is completely different or more focused on the back end of transactions, the role of corporate counsel across the region remains the same: to assist their company in realising its commercial objective – staying afloat in troubled times. “The key point for in-house lawyers is to be extra conscious of providing commercial outcomes for business units to help their companies reach their objectives,” says David Flavell, Asia-Pacific general counsel for Danone Asia. “It is a crucial time for in-house lawyers to ensure they are closer than ever to the business and understand the business environment.”
The pace at which this business environment is changing has implications for the timeframes in which in-house lawyers are expected to resolve matters. All in-house lawyers interviewed by ALB noted that deadlines for matters had been cut – and cut drastically. “One of the most visible manifestations of this crisis is that our deadlines have been shaved,” says Peter Elliot, general counsel for Fitness First Australia. “In a sense, this is similar to what private practice lawyers are experiencing. A matter will land on my desk and I will be expected to provide my board with an answer in a very, very short timeframe.”
Ingram adds. “The churn is a relatively new phenomenon. Increases in the amount of work being handled in-house and even the types of matters we are taking on have been themes rolling through the past decade, but turnaround times have been pressurised by the current economic situation.”
Multi-tasking
At this point one might assume that more work, different types of work and quicker delivery would mean the region’s general counsel are afforded a cast of many to help them. This, however, is not the case, with in-house lawyers remarking that the size of their in-house teams had shrunk over the past 12 months and they had received edicts from above to not fill some vacant positions. “My team has been cut by about 30% over the last few months,” Elliot says. “We have vacancies that can be filled but we won’t bring any new staff on until we have a clearer indication of where the market is headed.”
This, of course, means using what one already has in a more ‘flexible’ manner. As the general counsel at the US-based investment bank explains: “What we are doing now is making full use of the existing talent we have. We are looking to double-hat and triple-hat more. The first thing we do when someone leaves is not to look for a replacement but to see how their work can be split among other people.”