Already over worked legal departments are facing new staffing issues, senior general counsel stated at the Annual Iberian Lawyer Human Resources round table hosted by IE Law School

A clear impact of the economic challenges now facing businesses is the effect that reduced legal budgets are having on in-house legal teams’ workloads and worklife balances, say senior in-house lawyers.

An in-house role may be perceived as offering a more attractive work-life balance than in private practice, but in the current business environment that perception may be changing, conciliation and talent retention are as much an issue for companies as for law firms.

There is a sense of “fear” among many company lawyers over the vulnerability of their posts, say some, while those that avoid redundancy may still lack the motivation, resources and managerial support to handle additional caseloads.

One General Counsel for a major multinational noted that enforced travel budget cuts had reduced the demands placed on him to spend time out of the office, but an increased workload had more than negated any benefits he might have expected.

“We are facing pressure to reduce legal spend while at the same time seeing an upturn in work in areas such as labour and commercial litigation – the result is that we are having to do more and often with less internal and external support.”

Participants heard how both in-house teams and law firms increasingly face the same human resources (HR) challenges. Lawyers, and even entire teams, may feel a sense of isolation participants heard.

“The issues we now see did not exist a year ago. There is a sense of fear as many in-house lawyers see themselves as a pure cost to the business. But as legal managers try to reduce costs and outsource as little as possible it is inevitable that both work and stress levels are going to rise,” said María Segimón, a partner at DLA but formerly in-house at Ferrovial.

A trend apparent in London after the economic downturn of the early 2000s, explained Sally Woodward, consultant with Sherwood Consulting PSF, and formerly Head of Training and Professional Support Services at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer in London, was that lawyers who had survived law firm or legal department redundancy programmes often ended up leaving voluntarily within a few years.

“Many were expected to be grateful for having ‘survived’ cuts but at the same time were expected to take on the workloads of their former colleagues. There is a need for departmental managers to realise the stresses now being placed on all team members and to offer the right support.”

In order to maintain motivation in the face of cuts companies as much as law firms need to ensure that they continue to invest in the talent they have, she believes, offering further professional development programmes as well as rewarding those that perform above expectation. For many general counsel the battle for talent therefore still rages.

“We continue to fight to recruit and retain the same quality candidates, even in today’s enlarged pool, but what is evident is that everybody is looking for the best talent, which is scarce by definition. What is important is for us first to look after the lawyers we have and to make sure that the work we do is interesting,” says Eduardo Ruiz, Regional Counsel at Hewlett-Packard.

A number of general counsel admit to placing emphasis on more flexible working practices to help maintain the work-life balance attraction – which, some say, is as simple as enabling lawyers on occasions to work remotely.

“We have incorporated almost all forms of flexible working – home-working, part-time, flexible hours, etc – but ultimately we work to deadlines. Our position is that so long as we hit them when we have to then everything else is up for debate,” stated Jochi Jiménez, Legal and Compliance Director at HCC Global.

Some question the suitability of flexible working in all business situations, but nonetheless note that communications and mobile working technology means that lawyers are no longer deskbound.

“People’s motivation changes throughout their life, and lawyers want to experience new challenges and new environments. But we also want to work more flexibly and the challenge is to enable this to happen,” said Gonzalo Fernández Atela, Chief Administration Officer at RBC Dexia Investor Services.

In-house lawyers note however, that even in the current business climate, and despite the increased demands on company legal departments, it remains unusual for in-house lawyers to move to a law firm.

“Not everyone can work flexibly or part-time, and you can obviously go faster or slower at different points in your career. But if an in-house lawyer wants a new challenge they will still most likely move to another company legal department,” concluded Fernández Atela. “We are fighting to motivate and retain the same talent. Lawyers are changing roles more frequently, perhaps every three years, and this is likely to continue even with the downturn.”