Working in-house exposes you to people from different academic and social backgrounds. What I have personally learned from my experience is that as lawyers we have developed so many more skills than just the technical legal, that are so useful in business and for which we take for granted.
We are skilled in timekeeping. If we miss a court or filing deadline, there can be severe consequences so we keep a hawkish eye at all times on those deadlines and ensure we meet them. In business, equally there a deadlines, whether project deadlines, meeting times or a timeline for strategic objectives. As lawyers we make sure we are present and get things done.
We organise and file away our documents. There is nothing worse than in a dispute, where you think that you have all the relevant information from your colleagues and the other side discloses something that wasn’t given to you. Equally, this is an essential skill in business. It is so important that the teams know the details of their commitments with buyers and suppliers. So often contracts cannot be located when questions get asked about them or worse off, a contract expires unexpectedly and the team is left without their supply or exposed to increased charges. As lawyers, we ensure a register is kept of these critical details and the documents are filed away and easily accessible.
We are courteous and professional in our approaches. It is surprising to me that this is a skill that is missing amongst other professions. However, from experience there are so many emails or letters that get ignored by colleagues and they only appear to get responded to if and when they either get shouted out by their superiors or a penalty is imposed. As lawyers would never ignore an email or a letter, there is always a response we can send.
We should champion ourselves for the skills we have and the hard work we have put into developing them. It is often the case that these skills don’t get celebrated but they should be as they make for such an efficient workforce. So much time is lost and frustration is created when these skills are not exercised. Businesses should take note and see how their lawyers could facilitate a more efficient workforce.
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