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Legal Week recently launched a group for in-house lawyers.  Established last month by Legal Week conference editor Anthony Parker, the group enables law department attorneys to to exchange information and build working relationships.  The 500-member group is growing fast.

Members include in-house counsel from JP Morgan, Dubai International Capital, Virgin, Nomura, UBS, 3i, Carillion, Chevron, Barclays and IBM.   Access to the group provides links to features and analysis from Legal Week and its US sister titles, the latest news stories relating to in-house counsel and corporate legal departments, discussion boards, and information about upcoming events. 

To join, click here.

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Downsizing almost always destabilizes a corporate law department, leaving in its wake uncertainty and doubts about the future in the minds of those not affected by the layoffs. If you’re among the ranks of those left standing, you might be thinking it’s a good time to start exploring other opportunities. Networking and reaching out to former colleagues is first step.

If you’ve been with the same firm or company for several years, your contacts may be out of date, especially if networking has taken a back seat to the demands of work and family life.  Here are some tips to start reconnecting:

• If you’re not using online business and social networking tools, join now. These really work. LinkedIn is the leading online business networking site and has a very user-friendly interface. Spoke and ZoomInfo are also fairly useful, although the information can be outdated. Facebook is even crossing over to the business arena.
• If you’re already a member of an online network, make sure to update all your current job and contact information. Join alumni groups and those that relate to your area of specialty. 
• Bar association websites are also great resources to find former colleagues. Most states have online searchable attorney databases.
• The Association of Corporate Counsel is also an excellent resource and the contact information for its members is almost always current.
• Finally, Twitter is gaining ground as a way for business people – including lawyers – to self-promote and find colleagues. You can search for contacts and follow them, which can be a great way to re-establish a relationship.

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This month’s Corporate Counsel features the magazine’s annual review of top legal departments.  The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. earned top honors this year for its impressive accomplishments on the precipice of a financial industry meltdown and for its highly-developed internal efforts to promote success within the legal department.  

Building a great team, of course, requires hiring great people, but Hartford Financial demonstrates how to push a legal department to truly excel.  And having a legal department that excels has never been more critical than it is now in times of tightening budgets and increased scrutiny on legal expenses.

Key lessons your legal department can learn:

• Hire not just talented staff, but talented staff with complementary strengths.  Each hire should strengthen the overall team and equip the department to be more agile in the face of changes to the business.
• Systematically implement mentoring and training programs.  These are long-term investments that will pay off in recruiting, retention, and productivity.
• Train lawyers within the legal department to hire and manage the relationship with outside counsel.  Legal departments of all sizes need their lawyers to take a consistent, strategic approach to working with outside lawyers, particularly in times of tight budgets.  Even though most in-house counsel previously worked as outside counsel, many would benefit from training to get the most from outside lawyers.   
• Take a hands-on approach to legal work.  Keeping in-house counsel actively involved in the matters they manage encourages a better result.
• Encourage innovation.  Lawyers are not natural innovators, and change often comes slowly.  However, a culture that encourages experimenting with new methods, new approaches, and new perspectives will yield more successes than failures.

You can learn more about Hartford Financial’s successes here:  http://www.law.com/jsp/ihc/PubArticleIHC.jsp?id=1202430800136.

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