A week in the life of an in-house counsel

As cliché as it might sound, the beauty of working in-house is that no two days are the same.

The job requires you to wear several different hats, sometimes more than one at a time, so you can connect with the business and help meet its needs.

The in-house legal function often gets a bad rap for being the team that make things difficult or over-complicates a situation. However, once you develop strong relationships within the business, the value you can add is profound. You start to find that different internal stakeholders actually want to come to you, rather than avoid you.

I started working in-house as my first job after being admitted and despite not knowing anything different, I have loved the learn-as-you-go approach and the autonomy I have been afforded in doing so.

I engage with the business across many different practice areas, including property, privacy, employment, operational agreements, intellectual property and other general legal matters. Here is a broad overview of what my week looks like:

Monday

• I start every day by clearing my inbox and replying to outstanding emails. Since we are an international company, emails sometimes come in from the overseas team during the weekend that require priority.
• Sit down for a property team WIP to find out the status of our live projects and hear about any new ones in the pipeline. I work closely with the property team in drafting lease documents, sale and purchase agreements and helping with due diligence.
• Work through any contracts or service level agreements (SLA) the team has sent in for review and provide comment for them to take back to their customers or suppliers.
• Catch up with our general counsel about some of our larger customer contacts and leases, both here in New Zealand and overseas.
• Arrange for a catch-up with our overseas in-house counsel to discuss what is going on in their regions and any new legal matters or updates to pass on to the senior team based here in New Zealand.

Tuesday

• Consult with our group manager of team development to prepare for a mediation later in the week. We catch up with the team involved and talk through the process they followed and work through strengths and weaknesses of our position.
• Head out to view one of our new sites with our property manager. It is always great to see what happens after the legal side of things is done and to follow the build progress of a new freight depot.
• Work through questions that have come in from the team regarding what changes we can accept to our SLA and how best we can accommodate a customer’s request.
• Have follow-up conversations with team after feedback is provided on contracts and understand the areas where it can be flexible and those where it cannot.

Wednesday

• Have a zoom meeting with a contract software provider. We are looking to implement some new legal software so I am in charge of engaging with a few different businesses to compare their offerings and put forward a business case for the one we should go with.
• Catch up with our development manager about a new site we are looking at and go over the commercial terms he would like included in a letter of offer for the landlord to consider.
• Start to work through new lease proposal and talk with our property manager about any additional requirements the site might need to make it best fit our operational needs. It is always easier to deal with all this upfront in the negotiation to enable the landlord to understand the specifics of our operations.
• Take a few calls from team on a range of topics including the status of different contracts, employment questions and general updates.

Thursday

• Celebrate one of our team who has been with the business for 20 years– such a huge milestone. Always nice to come together with the wider team and have a shared morning tea and catch-up.
• Have a call with our external counsel about some of our trademarks that are coming up for renewal and liaise with our signatories to find a time that will suit for them to sign the requisite Power of Attorney documents and declarations.
• Discuss with general counsel whether we wish to oppose a trademark that is similar to ours in an overseas jurisdiction and what the likelihood of success would be.
• Liaise with counsel for one of our landlords to arrange an extension to one of its key milestone dates in our lease, and talk through with the team the implications of this.
• Catch up with our sustainability team about some new policies that are in their first draft stages and the best way forward for these.

Friday

• Attend an employment mediation with our group manager of team development and a member of our training team on Zoom. I miss the days of face-to-face mediations but Zoom provides many efficiencies.
• Mediation takes up most of the morning, but we reach an outcome both parties are happy with, which is always satisfying.
• Quick debrief with the team about how the mediation went and what we would like to improve on procedurally.
• Another Zoom meeting to chat with our insurers and members of the air and ocean team about a new agreement and what sort of coverage we need.
• I try to keep Friday afternoon clear so I can catch up on any work or emails that have slipped through the cracks throughout the week so that they do not hang over to next week – if possible!

Georgina Sanders is in-house counsel at Mainfreight with 5.5 years’ PQE.