Closing the gap: finding every day success as general counsel

As general counsel, you are expected to deliver expert insight on legal topics that range from simple contract services agreements to strategies for navigating global business regulations. Your legal know-how needs to be broad and deep—and retrievable at a moment’s notice.

So how do you make sure you have all the information and insights you need without spending millions of dollars, losing valuable time, or risking the hard-earned credibility you’ve earned in the organization?

Identify knowledge gaps

Knowledge and experience gaps are typical. However, that doesn’t mean leaders across the organization aren’t banking on your ability to answer legal questions quickly and effectively.

As general counsel, being the expert on an ever-evolving list of topics is the expectation— explicitly stated or not. So, living up to this expectation starts with a realistic accounting of the gaps in your knowledge and experience.

Or to put it more positively: it starts with an opportunity to acknowledge where you should focus your time, bringing higher value to the organization. As a result, less critical – and often time-consuming -tasks can be managed by a smart solution, which ensures not only the company’s success but also your own.

Consider solutions

When it comes to closing knowledge gaps in your organization, you have a few options. Most notably, adding headcount and acquiring needed experience. In some ways, this is the easiest – if not most expensive – way to solve your knowledge gap concerns.

However, hiring or outsourcing the work isn’t always the best or most realistic option. Not only will it quickly become a cost hazard, but it’s not a real solution. Adding an experienced attorney to stave off workflow issues might seem reasonable until you need a second or third or fourth attorney to help plug a hole that grows and changes with the business and regulatory environment.

So, you’ll always need another lawyer, another outsourced solution, until it’s evident that hiring more attorneys isn’t a solution as much as it’s a temporary stop gap.

Create value

What if there was a solution that not only solved the knowledge gap problem but also gave you access to top-level talent and created value in your daily work life?  

With over 230 expert attorney editors, Practical Law delivers an unprecedented depth of knowledge and experience, no matter the legal or regulatory question. These are attorneys who have not only been in your chair—they also work every day to help general counsels just like you anticipate, mitigate, and solve complex legal and regulatory problems.

So, not only does this create value in your daily work life, but it also helps level the field with outside counsel, which helps ensure investments are made wisely, deals are closed quickly, shortening the process and minimizing overall risk.