In-House Counsel

Defining Wins In-House

Part of the challenge of defining what a win looks like in-house is especially pronounced when you just came from a place where your value was measured in six-minute increments.

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459989For the litigation associate I once was, defining wins was easy, especially when they were celebrated during weekly docket meetings with the entire law firm office. We all shared when we won motions, hearings, or trials, or signed up a new client. On a smaller level, when it came to performance review and self-evaluation time, it was easy to talk about my billable hours, my business development efforts, and the skills I had developed or the clients I had served.

While I admittedly do not know much about my transactional colleagues in private practice, I can imagine that they discussed their big million-dollar deals, how many hours they billed, and which clients they had the opportunity to work with.

But if you’re new to being in-house counsel, something that you may not have considered is what a “win” looks like when you’re in-house. Of course, as in-house counsel, we can still talk about how we have resolved a dispute or how we managed a deal — but our work is so much more than that. And if I were being honest, winning can feel less satisfying because I didn’t actually take the deposition, write the brief, or argue the motion (and instead, can rely on brilliant outside counsel).

Part of the challenge of defining what a win looks like in-house is especially pronounced when you just came from a place where your value was measured in six-minute increments — and you didn’t have to think about how you provide value. If you’re new to this, here are some ideas to consider (especially if you have to submit a self-evaluation or end of year submission).

Money Made

To the extent you get to work on projects that enable or contribute to how your company makes money, this is one that I would definitely mention. While I am rarely in this space as an employment lawyer and cannot personally leverage this strategy, I can see how this is especially powerful if you are enabling company innovation as a tech or IP lawyer or helping your private company transition to a public one.

Money Saved

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Even if you can’t share a win where you helped the company make money, it may be helpful to couch your contribution in how your work saved the company money, whether that is through early resolution of a dispute, complying with new laws or regulations, or providing advice on company-cost-cutting measures.

Crisis Managed Or Averted

The easiest example of this concept is how my “stock” as an employment lawyer skyrocketed during the pandemic. The crisis of the pandemic and how it particularly created many employment-related issues demonstrated to our company how valuable employment lawyers are.

Client Satisfaction

Another way to demonstrate value, especially if you have some system of surveying the people you support as in-house counsel, is to share examples of client satisfaction. Even if you do not have a surveying system, this strategy can be helpful if your clients have a lot of influence in the company and take the time to share their satisfaction with your leadership.

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Meyling Mey Ly OrtizMeyling “Mey” Ly Ortiz is in-house at Toyota Motor North America. Her passions include mentoring, championing belonging, and a personal blog: TheMeybe.com. At home, you can find her doing her best to be a “fun” mom to a toddler and preschooler and chasing her best self on her Peloton. You can follow her on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/meybe/). And you knew this was coming: her opinions are hers alone.

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