About

Qualifying in 1994 and with RSA Ireland since 2011, James Murray was required to prove his mettle as an internal counsel very quickly upon taking his first in-house role with concrete company Ready Mix/Cemex in 2007. ‘I joined Ready Mix just as the Irish construction industry collapsed’, he recalls, ‘but I actually remember this period as a career highlight, as this baptism of fire was great in terms of career experience’. While with RSA, as the first dedicated in house resource for Ireland, Murray feels it has been ‘really a matter of creating the RSA Ireland legal department from scratch’, and that ‘going from constantly referring to external counsel to looking after matters yourself and minimising internal legal cost’ was required in order to establish the legal department in the minds of the company. The business environment is often an unforgiving one, and Murray has worked in companies who have had their fair share of ups and downs throughout his career in business. His recipe for dealing with downturns and other negative external factors is a simple one: ‘Lots of hard work and the ability to put in the hours are absolutely key. When you are in the middle of crisis management there is no substitute for this. Aside from that, you must stay close to the business and make sure you are always offering value over and above any external counsel’. Murray extends this advice to other in-house counsel who would look to emulate his success in the future: ‘It’s all about getting immersed in the business. In-house relationships are crucial and you have to get in there and build relationships from the start in order to gain trust around the business. Let people understand the in-house legal function is there for them, and that an in-house legal team can make their life easier’.