Five Questions with In-House Counsel: Julie Chapman

 

1. Why did you decide to become an In-House Counsel?

   "Before law school, I received my Bachelor of Commerce and had worked in a sales capacity both during and after university. After working in private practice (corporate/commercial law) for a few years, I was offered an opportunity in-house and jumped at it. The idea of dedicating my practice to one corporate client, who I could be deeply involved with, in terms of the people, the business and the industry, was the primary driver for me. I’ve never looked back."

2. Is the role of In-House Counsel changing? And if yes, how so?

   "In-house lawyers used to be transaction focused in many ways, similar to private practitioners. They were reactive, meaning they dealt with legal matters as they came in the door and didn't worry much about strategic priorities or creating efficiencies for the business. Now, in-house legal departments are generally required to prove their worth to the organization in terms of real value for the client. It's essential to understand the client's business priorities, culture and appetite for risk, and then determine the priorities of the legal department from there. Every day I determine how much time and effort to dedicate to any given matter by looking at those factors I just mentioned. You can't possibly get everything done if the goal is perfection. My focus is on how to best support the business in reaching its goals. "

3. What is one of your favourite moments in your legal career?

   "When I joined LexisNexis Canada in 2010, there was no local legal department, so I had the opportunity to craft the role in a lot of ways. I started out doing essentially what I described earlier – handling whatever legal issues landed on my desk the best way I knew how. About 5 years ago, the global legal team decided to take a step back and, by collecting and analyzing data and metrics, created internal processes for streamlining workflows and more efficient utilization of legal resources. This wasn't done overnight and remains an ongoing task, but by reallocating or even culling some of the low value work, we created an opportunity to increase visibility and time spent with clients (as opposed to paperwork), which supports our overall objective of adding value. "

4. How are you leveraging legal technology?

   "I touched on data and metrics – the days of moving in-house to avoid tracking your time are over! This isn't to say I track time by the hour – the billable hour is not something we want to go back to. Using LexisNexis^® Counsellink^®, we track certain inputs such as matter turnaround times and external legal spend, in order to help us determine how to provide consistent and reliable service. This has also allowed us to better predict resource requirements and to be able to provide meaningful feedback to executives in terms of workload and output from the legal department. Again, this helps to demonstrate value. "

5. If you had a magic wand and you could change one thing about the legal industry, what would it be?

   "More lawyers need to see themselves as business people if they don't want technology to replace them. Legal advice isn't helpful without context and a clear understanding of what your client is trying to achieve. If someone comes to me with a question and I provide them with an answer without first asking questions of my own, I shouldn't be surprised if my advice isn’t followed. Also, I suggest taking courses to improve your financial acumen – a basic understanding of financial statements is invaluable to an in-house lawyer. "

 

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