Team size: 20

As we enter the next decade, what skills will a corporate legal team need to succeed in the modern in-house legal industry?

For any lawyers who are interested in joining the fintech industry, they need to prepare themselves with unique challenges including regulatory ambiguity, rapidly developing laws to fill the space without enforcement precedents, and a very dynamic, highly innovative and aggressively expanding industry. Therefore, their past experience in a specialised area may not be as relevant, as they are constantly advising brand new legal issues they have never worked on before. Therefore, the key skills we are looking for include:

Firstly, humility and open-mindedness in order to learn the business quickly. I encourage lawyers to unlearn what they have learnt from law firms, which are usually based on established precedents, more mature business models and lower risk tolerance. New industry practices and behaviors have put a challenge to the old understanding of the law. A corporate in-house lawyer in a new industry should be a fast learner and excellent listener.

In the modern world, the in-house corporate lawyers that can succeed will be the ones who don’t see their take away from the law firm years being static understanding of the law, but a flexible mindset to deeply understand the core issues, and reinterpret the law in a brand new context.

Secondly, strong core legal skills. To effectively review and advise new business without many precedents, I strongly believe the core legal skills attorneys learn and hone from years of private practice remain the backbone contribution lawyers bring to the success of our business. Solid interpretation skills, top-notch problem solving and analytical skills, excellent drafting skills and attention to detail are all absolutely essential attributes.

In-house corporate attorneys who possess these skills inspire confidence from the business and self-confidence for themselves.

How do you suggest in-house lawyers build strong relationships with business partners?

At Advance Intelligence Group , I focus the team on three core tenets of building in-house legal relationships.

First, be visible and present at all times. We build more effective partnerships when our lawyers actively demonstrate empathy for their business partners. I encourage all our lawyers to sit with the business; We are open, flexible, visible, and accessible.

Second, use our visibility to get involved early. We are part of the discussions and inception of business ideas from day one, because we have a close day-to-day relationship with our stakeholders. We help brainstorm solutions around current restrictions, preparing in-house templates for high-volume areas of the business, providing regular training sessions particularly for new joiners while being open to feedback and improvements. Over time, this has forged a relationship of mutual trust and respect with the business stakeholders.

Third, stay involved all the way through. Our observation is that our businesspeople–and the company overall–are more confident about their decision when they’ve made it with their lawyers, instead of it being subsequently approved by them. After building familiarity, we take a consultative and partnering approach while advising our business partners as they navigate getting leadership approval for their proposals. Specifically, we require lawyers to help our stakeholders see around corners by anticipating the reactions of company leadership, the regulators, and even the public. This in turn breeds more sound decision-making and reduces the burden on company leadership when navigating the way forward.