Focus on the lessons learnt by the general counsel after the pandemic

Historically, the in-house counsel has been seen as an important role inside companies because, among the many tasks they perform, they monitor the framework and boundaries in which the business can or should move. So, one of the most important assets of being an in-house lawyer is to understand the business to be a good business partner, meaning that on a recurrent basis we must develop hard and soft skills to position ourselves as leaders in the company. The last 2 years were not the exception, however they left us incredible lessons learned in this sense.

One of the hard skills general counsels need to continuously develop is knowledge of all the new legal-related regulations issued, but the pandemic made that more difficult, as we were required to know more than usual. New labour rules regarding home-office, financial and taxes benefits given by the government to companies and workers, internal protocols in case of return to the offices, external protocols applied by our customers to face the pandemic and how to combine them with ours, among others, were some of the matters we had to learn to answer all the business needs.

Concerning soft skills, they are vital to our environment. It is easier if you have the chance to have face-to-face meetings with associates in the office, but the pandemic put the softs skills in jeopardy when we had to adapt and find new ways to apply them, through a computer screen or a telephone call. We had to develop creative ways to pass our message to associates, monitor activities, train our policies, and educate our customers in these new not legal-related rules, but essential to continue developing our business.

With the pandemic, we learned the world changed as we knew it. We learned that it is possible to do our jobs from home without disrupting business, and we also understood that we can add value to our business from many different perspectives other than legal and compliance.

The role of general counsel has changed. We now need to be more focused on our working environment, on physical and mental healthiness and on the well-being of our associates, their issues and major concerns.

Under this new post-pandemic environment, the new profile of the general counsel must be focused on how we build a better, healthier, and happier future for all the stakeholders, and improve their experience when working with legal departments. Resilience, flexibility, and people-oriented thinking are a must to move away from transactional relationships into transformative partnerships, and finally understand how these little changes can generate a big impact across the organization.