In-House Legal Counsel

Easy steps to hiring in house legal counsel for your business
By Betsy D. Vanderslice, Freelance The decision to hire in-house counsel is not one to take lightly. However, if you have done your homework, carefully reviewed your legal counsel's invoices over the last few months and finally realized it would be in your best interest to hire in-house legal counsel for your small business, then it's time to start looking.
 

Before you do this, you need to know the easiest ways to go about hiring the internal counsel suited to your needs. Be sure to remember the following as you consider making the leap from outside corporate counsel to an internal lawyer:

1. You can hire a lawyer with law firm experience or someone fresh out of law school, depending on your budget and whether you will also be retaining outside counsel.

2. An in house counsel directory is a great place to scout candidates with experience.

3. There are many resources at your disposal to take the guesswork out of making this crucial decision.

Make your in-house counsel job easy for potential candidates to find

The Internet has made posting jobs a breeze, but remember the audience you hope to reach. Just as you wouldn't advertise your sports car in a magazine geared toward knitters, do not waste time advertising your job on a site not created for corporate counsel looking for an in-house lawyer position.
Try: For a small fee, you can advertise your position on Inhouse Blog. Post your legal job for free on Counsel.Net.

Search and screen resumes to find the candidate best suited to be your in-house corporate lawyer

Maybe you are not ready to advertise your position and deal with an onslaught of resumes. You are now capable of screening potential candidates at your leisure thanks to websites that allow job-seekers to post their resumes for you to search.
Try: Become a member of The Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) for free and gain access to resumes posted by lawyers looking for jobs. You can use key words to narrow your free search of resumes on TheJobSpider.com.

Hire a consultant or headhunter experienced at searching for in house legal counsel

If you do not have the time to search resumes and screen candidates, let a professional weed out the best lawyers for your specific needs. A recruiter will save you the time of meeting with people who obviously will not work for your needs.
Try: Contact General Counsel Consulting to find out how their search services can help you. E-mail Aaron Consulting, Inc. to learn more about their services.

• In-house lawyers work only for you so you know your issues will always take precedence.
• In-house counsel can monitor the billing of any outside lawyers, should you need them, to control costs.