Insights
In-house legal teams
Today's complex business problems span departments, disciplines and geographies. Savvy in-house lawyers know that collaboration across organizational silos and with external organizations is critically important. But how?
By mastering Smart Collaboration, general counsels and their in-house legal teams can generate maximum value and achieve better business and legal outcomes. Our research defines four 'vectors' of collaboration that in-house legal teams must optimize: (1) within the legal group, including with other specialists such as data scientists or legal ops experts, (2) across other corporate departments such as finance, risk, or HR, (3) with their business counterparts in the board, executive team and front line, and (4) beyond the corporation, including external counsel, regulators, suppliers, and more.
Through case studies, quantitative analysis, and hundreds of interviews and surveys, we dive into the specific challenges, opportunities, and how-to points for each vector.
Gardner & Co.’s new research-packed white paper 'General Counsel: How to Gain and Use a Seat at the Corporate Strategy Table—with Help from your External Lawyers' offers fresh insights and practical advice from interviews with over 100 corporate General Counsel around the world.
We explore how GCs often lack early-enough input on crucial strategic issues, preventing them from engaging in smarter collaboration. This hurts them and the company: they can't reap all the benefits that smarter collaboration delivers, including:
- Higher-quality, less risk-calibrated solutions
- Innovative outcomes
- Better talent attraction and retention
- Enhanced diversity and inclusion
Source: Gardner & Co.
Year: February 2024
In the July 2023 issue of The American Lawyer's 'The Month,' Dr. Heidi K. Gardner explores how general counsel (GCs) can optimize their performance as a strategic thought partner across their entity. She looks at:
- What should be on the GC's radar for 2023 and beyond
- The key collaborative actions the GC should take as the leader
- The biggest pitfalls in-house and outside counsel make when trying to create a collaborative relationship
The article is on page seven.
Source: The American Lawyer's 'The Month'
Year: July 2023
Link: https://www.gardnerandco.co/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Lessons-beyond-legal.pdf
This Special Report, with input from hundreds of General Counsels, in-house lawyers, CEOs and board members, shows why and how legal teams work across silos – what we call 'Smart Collaboration.’
Source: The Centre for Legal Leadership
Year: 2020
Link: https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/1787423506/ref=dp_olp_new_mbc_mma?ie=UTF8&condition=new
In-house legal teams face increasing pressure to deliver more value to the business, which hinges on harnessing expertise across departments, divisions and geographies. This foundational report outlines some of the strategies to foster Smart Collaboration to reap the business and legal benefits.
Source: Harvard Law School, Center on the Legal Profession
Year: 2017
The article examines how in-house lawyers can overcome organizational and cultural barriers to reap the benefits of Smart Collaboration, including they better business outcomes and the potential to attract and retain the highest-caliber talent.
Source: The In-House Lawyer
Year: 2017
Summary: In the 5-minute podcast Dr. Gardner outlines how smarter collaboration within a legal team can make a difference in the impact that a general counsel can have within their organization. Investing in collaboration, building and working in teams are elements paving the road to success for GCs and any aspiring business leaders.
Event: Global Leader in Law and Morrison & Foerster
Link: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdVlhtlpyMg
Year: July 2019
In the 5-minute podcast Dr. Gardner outlines the opportunities for general counsel to develop as executive business leaders. In that capacity, they serve not just spot risks and solve problems but to think proactively about how the legal knowledge adds to the business in terms of upside opportunities, as well as mitigating the downside'. GCs also have the opportunity to strategically shape and lead agile legal departments that are structurally able to pursue and create quick and untraditional solutions.
Event: Global Leader in Law and Morrison & Foerster
Year: July 2019