Team size: 12

What has been the number one challenge that has impacted you over the past year?

Resourcing – The hunt for legal talent is fierce, which makes attracting and retaining talent (and their corporate knowledge) a key challenge for in-house teams currently. Private practices are offering generous packages which are particularly enticing when the in-house workload is commensurate to firm hours. Celebrating the positives of working in-house – such as the focus on one client and its objectives, and the close working relationship with leaders – and ensuring basic practice management systems support efficient ways of working, are key to retention in such a competitive market in my view.

What would you say are the unique qualities required to be successful as an in-house lawyer in your industry?

Adaptability: The need to re-prioritise and be comfortable with change is particularly important in major project delivery.

The other quality is preparedness: Whilst an in-house lawyer needs to be able to constantly pivot with the project team, a good lawyer is also ready to advise on foreseeable and high-risk situations prior to them occurring by having pre-prepared one page ‘cheat sheets,’ and flowcharts, which can be drawn upon in initial strategy discussions with the leadership team.