We may not know how in-house teams are being run and what are the priorities of the legal teams that are present in-house in an organization. There is a huge difference between what in-house legal services used to be and what they have become now. Previously, in-house teams were not the preferred choice of the people. In fact, people used to think that in-house jobs are a lot easier and a feeling used to creep up that whenever a problem arises or there is something complicated, law firms can be hired. Below 30% of the pass-out law students are opting to join in-house legal jobs rather after graduating from the law college opt to join law firms.
Let us look at some of the thoughts for In-house legal services teams that are beating law firms and this can be imposed as a threat to the lawyers of the law firms as their career can be at risk. Know some of the reasons why counsel lawyer is proved to be better than the ones working with the law firms.
1. Acceptance of In-house legal counsel –
All large law firms in India have changed their attitude toward the in-house legal teams and they have come a long way to somewhere in between. In-house teams were relatively unimportant but now they have grown in a status, budget, variety of expertise and the complexity of work that is being assigned to them. Primary services in larger companies are provided by the in-house legal departments
2. Reduction in cost and increase in Efficiency –
In-house legal services are more efficient and it also helps to reduce the cost and increase the reliability of services and the in-house team can also be used for some other work when there is no consumer protection work. It can be used to help firms with some compliances, etc. This business model is very efficient and this saves from spending extra money on the law firms.
3. In-house legal departments focus on increasing efficiency –
The fees of the in-house legal team is according to the number of hours they spend on a matter. If the hours worked is less then the billing also shrinks for them. Thus, they always try to increase efficiency and try to cut costs as much possible. For this reason, they use better work processes, better operators and systems and standard practices are used.
4. In-house team leads in adopting new technologies and Innovations –
Law firms are incredibly resistant to new technologies. The fact can be practical as the leaders of the law firms see their value in legal expertise and not in technological disruptions. A general counsel lawyer, on the contrary, is far more open to new technologies that are disruptive as well.
5. In-house is paying more-
Entry-level jobs in the in-house legal department is usually low paying as compared to the law firms. However, there are some notable exceptions and it can be changed as one climbs up in the chain and assume more senior-level roles in the organization. In-house teams get paid more than the law firms since the fees are not shared among many heads.
6. Variety of work is available in the in-house legal department –
Law firms are very specialized and it becomes very boring when a person does the same work repeatedly. You can be left doing the same exact thing unless you think of making a switch. Moreover, in-house lawyers are not like this. If you get a chance to work with an MNC then you can also get international exposure as a person goes up by ranks. This great exposure is not possible in law firms.
7. Variety of work –
The law firm lawyers do the same work as they need a specialization these days in order to work in a firm. Whereas, in-house lawyers need to have a general understanding of the topic in most cases.
8. Better career scope –
Law firms are great and they have high paying openings every year. Though at the entry-level jobs are few in in-house departments but once some experience is gathered, they earn a good amount of income as companies spend a huge amount of their budget on internal lawyers.
9. More job opportunities –
Though there are fewer entry-level jobs in in-house legal departments as you climb up in the field you will realise that the in-house job is much better than the role of law-firm lawyers. The number of job shifting in-house is quite high.
10. More perks provided –
a Large number of law firms have no work-life balance and the work culture is also suffocating with unhealthy work hours. On the contrary, the work culture followed by legal in-house teams is far better. Many perks are provided to the employees for their personal benefits.
Above-mentioned are the thoughts for in-house legal service teams and we strongly recommend that in-house jobs are an excellent choice to excel in your career. You will get to work on different projects that would be immensely beneficial.