To be successful as a corporate practitioner, one must have first of all an unwavering commitment and devotion to providing an extraordinarily high quality of service and counsel. Achievement of the client’s goals on a given project can oftentimes require long hours and tenacious commitment to the completion of task within the timeframe allotted.
In these efforts, the successful corporate lawyer must recognize that the practice of corporate law is at one level an intellectual exercise, but at the same time, it’s extraordinarily pragmatic: e.g., corporate lawyers deal with real-world problems and must be adept at finding real-world solutions. There is a high level of intellectual effort, but the corporate lawyer must be able to bring that down to the practical, to best accomplish the assigned task. That process involves not only the use of intellect, but also interpersonal skills and an extremely high level of common sense.
Accordingly, it is critical for the corporate lawyer to recognize that his or her role is that of a problem solver, not merely a problem spotter. Recognizing the problem is not enough. The client expects the attorney to see the problems, pitfalls and issues. The successful attorney, however, only truly adds value when he or she is able to go the next step and provide solutions and alternatives for the client to consider. In this way, the corporate lawyer is a facilitator, rather than an obstacle, to achieving the client’s goals. If the attorney cannot guide the client through an issue, then the attorney has only partially fulfilled his or her role, and has not rendered the level of value the client needs and should expect.
While great corporate lawyers have several different attributes, one stands apart from the rest: being an exceptional listener. First of all, it’s essential that the corporate lawyer is always ready and able to listen to the client’s description of its goals and needs. This sounds trite, but involves a set of skills that is more than simply hearing the words spoken or reading the words on the written page. The exceptional corporate lawyer looks beyond the words to delve into the facts, circumstances and other aspects that define the situation. It is this skill and instinct that gives the corporate lawyer a more complete understanding of the client’s goals and needs. Some of the skill is derived from training, but to a large extent the exceptional corporate lawyer applies his or her experience and the wisdom derived from that experience.
Secondly, being an exceptional listener requires achieving an understanding of the goals, needs and concerns of involved parties other than the client, as best can be determined. Most matters in which a corporate lawyer is involved will include interaction, and resolution of conflicts, with another party. Sometimes, as in complex transactions, this may involve many other parties to the transaction. The other parties may be regulatory or other governmental agencies or internal "parties" within the client organization; for example when there are different points of view among members of the board of directors, or differences between a client’s business group and its internal finance or legal staff. In each of those instances, the corporate lawyer will best serve the client’s interest, and maximize the value of the counseling and service he or she provides, by applying the highest level of listening skills that can be brought to bear on the matter. Just as with the listening that must be used to learn the client’s goals and needs, this listening requires application of the exceptional corporate lawyer’s training, experience and wisdom.
In addition, a great corporate lawyer has to be selfless rather than selfish. He or she must understand that in today’s world most of the projects the corporate lawyer will work on are, from a legal standpoint, relatively complex, with legal, regulatory and other aspects beyond the expertise of any one practitioner or discipline. Often, even just in the legal sphere, the laws of various jurisdictions will apply. As a consequence, it is imperative that a corporate lawyer be prepared to assemble and work with a legal team with interdisciplinary skills. The skilled corporate lawyer will manage that group in a manner that maximizes their respective skill sets and experience and provides appropriate recognition, both internally within the lawyers’ firm and externally with the client, of the team members’ contributions. In this manner, the corporate lawyer, working with the team, will be in the best position to achieve the client’s goals.
Further, the corporate lawyer must be skilled at working with other professionals in other fields, including most often finance and accounting, but often also including engineers, environmental experts and experts in other fields. The skilled practitioner will make sure this occurs in an atmosphere that encourages and creates open communications based on mutual confidence and respect. In this environment, any thought by the corporate lawyer of seeking credit for his or her efforts should be eliminated from any list of goals.