Excerpted from Lexpert:
Simply put, a high-performing in-house legal team is one that understands an organization’s vision, contributes to its growth, and delivers on its goals. An effective one is paramount to success, but building it comes with significant obstacles.
On a world stage defined by global uncertainty — disruptive events like the .com boom and bust, 9/11, the 2008 financial crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic, and geopolitical conflicts — corporations and the legal teams within them must adapt as economies, pressures, and strategies change. Working with several different departments with various priorities while also navigating workforce shifts that have seen people’s expectations of their career evolve as well, means attracting and retaining requisite top-tier talent is increasingly difficult.
“It’s been one of the biggest challenges since I started working in this space in 1998,” says Dal Bhathal, partner at Caldwell and head of its Canadian legal practice.
“What we’re seeing is that one size doesn’t fit all,” she explains. “Tailoring an approach to meet the needs of each stakeholder is difficult — but with the right frame of mind and enough support, it’s not impossible.”
The 2024 In-House Counsel Compensation & Career Survey
Bhathal, who recently spoke on the subject at the Canadian Corporate Counsel Association’s (CCCA) In-House Leadership Retreat in Halifax, pointed to the findings of the 2024 In-House Counsel Compensation & Career Survey as indicative of how things are changing in the profession.
While it’s no surprise that greater compensation ranks at the top of the list of factors driving career moves since the survey’s inception in 2009, “it’s now tied into other factors,” Bhathal notes. Since the last survey in 2022, for example, those that would leave their current employer for greater compensation jumped to 47% from 39%. Another change is that promotion as a reason for leaving fell from the number two spot for the first time in the survey’s history, replaced by work life balance. While in-house historically was the best option for that balance, it’s no longer a 9-5 gig either: there are higher demands for in-house legal services, especially in privacy, risk and compliance, and contract management.
Tying into work life balance is the spike in people wanting to work from home. Since the COVID-19 pandemic forced a remote work roll-out, many are still chasing at least a hybrid schedule from their employer. Bhathal sees this reflected in her work, where the first question from many of the lawyers she speaks to is, “How many days are work from home?”
“They want the option, even if they do go in,” she says. “The demand for flexibility is new and increasingly important.”
While in-house and private practice compensation are apples to oranges, the survey showcases how the latter impacts the former. During COVID, the economy boomed and triggered US law firms to cherry pick talent from major firms across Canada. Canadian firms were up against New York firms offering over USD$200,000 salaries — plus relocation expenses —for a newly qualified first year, plus work from home options that meant the lawyer could still spend time in their home country.
“When talent is moving to the US or other international centres, firms have to recruit to keep up with demand which leads to offering increased compensation as well as making concerted efforts to attract in-house lawyers back into private practice,” Bhathal explains. “This puts pressure on organizations to keep lawyers in-house, which I’ve seen time and time again in these cycles, but this time they don’t have the benefit of offering better work life balance as a competitive advantage.”
Practical strategies to attract, retain, and develop talent
Though compensation, along with comprehensive benefits, are still a draw, to move the needle on creating a cracker-jack legal team in today’s environment, leaders need to go beyond competitive pay. Promoting that top-of-mind work-life flexibility, investing in technology and resources, showcasing reputation and client quality, and looking internally to enhancing recruitment processes are also critical considerations, but the first step should be clearly defining what the organization needs, what the legal team needs, and what each individual is looking for, Bhathal advises.
Find more practical strategies in the full Lexpert article here.
