This week I gave a presentation about the life of an in-house lawyer in a global company to a group of masters students from the IE Law School . I spoke to them from the Amadeus headquarters where I work about our unique legal department and about what I believe it takes to be an effective in-house lawyer. Here’s my list:

At law firms you have an arms-length relationship with your clients who you do not see on a regular basis. In-house, you live with your clients. You see them in the cafeteria, on the elevator, at the water cooler and at company events. They are your colleagues and peers. And more importantly, if they don’t succeed, you don’t succeed. To that end, as in-house counsel, you need to see the big picture, know when the deal is “good enough”. Most companies cannot wait for perfect.

Of course, you cannot be effective if you don’t have a general counsel who empowers you. Fortunately for me, our GC expects his lawyers to do all of these things. And you simply cannot be an effective lawyer, in-house or otherwise, if you haven’t gained your client’s trust, a subject that I hope to explore in greater depth in future posts.

A special thanks to Rocio Rico and Chiara Ausenda from the IE Law School management team for bringing their students over.