“So, What’s Your Job for the Summer?” What a Lawyer Can Learn from Diane Court.

An element of providing quality legal advice timely is understanding the business objective. 

In the movie Say Anything, the female lead character, Diane Court, asks Lloyd Dobler a simple question – “So, what’s your job this summer.”  It’s a simple, direct question.  It generates a simple direct response.  “Job? Being a great date.”   

It is simple to ask the business partner and understand “What’s your job this summer?”  Or this quarter.  Or this year. 

Lawyers often jump right into being a lawyer and forget to look up, touch base with the business, and make sure they are aligned with the businessperson’s job for the summer, the quarter, or the year.  Sometimes, the lawyer assumes they know (and we know what happens with assumptions).  Sometimes, the lawyer asked once but hasn’t asked often enough to understand that the business strategy or objectives have changed.

How to get started?  My team of in-house lawyers called their internal customers and ask six basic questions that we modified from Kimberly Janson book, Demystifying Talent Management (2015).

•  What are your objectives in the next year in your job?
•  What are you being held accountable for in the next year?
•  How can I, as the lawyer working with you, help you meet these objectives mentioned in response to questions 1 and 2?
• What do you need more of from me as the lawyer working with you?
• What do you need less of from me as the lawyer working with you?
• If, at the end of the year, you were to rank me (a lawyer) as your most valuable partner in meeting your objectives, what would have happened during the year to justify that ranking?

Would you like help to discover ways to help your team to ask the right questions to help better understand the business they support?  Let’s talk.

Saying “No”

Providing quality legal advice timely certainly includes saying no.  It is important for an in-house attorney to have developed a reputation as a legal expert who is a problem solver and solution seeker to enhance her or his credibility when that moment arises.

Sometimes it is inevitable that a lawyer in a company’s law department must say “no.”    There are actions a business can take that are clearly prohibited and for which the lawyer must step up and say “no.”  Can we collude with a competitor?”  Nope.  “Can we take an action that Federal or State law clearly prohibits.”  Nope.  “Can we file false information with the SEC?”  Nope.

It is usually the exception rather than the rule that these types of issues arise where the answer to a legal question raised by the business is so clearly “no”.

The lawyer who has developed the reputation as a problem solver and a member of the team who is looking for solutions to legal issues that will help the business achieve its strategy and objectives will be taken seriously when they have to say “no.”

The lawyer who develops the reputation of always saying no without helping the business find alternatives that can reduce the legal risks while achieving the maximum business goal will be seen as frustrating at best.  That lawyer may be seen as the lawyer who cried wolf an ignored. Or the businesspeople will start to “forum shop” by seeking out a different lawyer.  Or worst, they will stop seeking legal counsel before acting.

The art is to set the stage for the rare occasion on which the lawyer must say no by being a proactive, problem-solving member of the team.

Need help or an outside perspective for your team on the legal function?  Let’s talk.