The Legal Department

Ever wonder why people aren't performing the way you want them to, why your team hasn't gelled, why the project is delayed, or why or your boss never seems to be happy?There's a way to avoid all this frustration; start with expectations. Rarely do we take the time to think about what we really expect from others at work or communicate those expectations.Stop suffering in silence! Executive coach Hanna Hart is back in The Legal Department with specific tips on how to talk about expectations. She explains the three different kinds of expectations we need to address and shares tips for communicating them to our teams and our bosses. From on-boarding to performance management, expectations are key to harmony at work.  Bonus: we talk about how to bridge generational differences about work.This is a great companion episode to Hanna's debut on the show, Episode 63: "The 'F' Word: Feedback in The Legal Department."

Attention all legal operations professionals! This episode is for you. Legal Ops consultant Lyndsey Cain of LegalEng is in The Legal Department to talk about how to make your legal tech implementation a success. From identifying a non-IT leader, knowing your goals, having a comms plan, and an ongoing governance structure, Lyndsey shares that success is more than "just the tech." She also shares tips on vendor engagement, negotiating those implementation services, and how to navigate tech updates.

Feeling like you're never going to get resources to support your legal function? Kathy Zhu has been there. Facing an endless demand for her time and limited resources to meet the business need at DoorDash, Kathy as head of Commercial Contracting, built relationships with her key customers and a process to help her team manage and communicate priorities within the company. She was so successful in showing her team's value (and their resource needs), her clients actually donated their own headcount to the legal department so she could serve them better. Seeing the value of process, tools and relationships, Kathy and her co-founder built a tool (Streamline AI) to help in-house legal departments manage their workload and generate metrics to make the case for more resources. In this episode, Kathy shares how she managed "the bottomless pit of need" using Google forms as a bush fix before Streamline AI was born. She shares:Why transparency and vulnerability are a superpower for building relationships with your key clientsHow using metrics can help you "speak CFO" and tell the story of your legal departmentWhy understanding the stage of the company and what's needed can help lawyers deliver better services

Tired of feeling like your legal department is a cost center? Fielding too many questions about the outside counsel spend, headcount and all the costs you generate? In this episode, you'll learn how to start an affirmative recovery program that can generate millions of dollars for your company. Veteran GC Andrew Johnstone, formerly in-house at Sears and US Foods, joins Greg McPolin of Burford Capital to share the "how" and "why" of building an affirmative recovery program in your in-house legal department. If you're not pursuing affirmative claims for your company, you're leaving money on the table. Tune in to learn how to generate positive cash flow and an ROI from your in-house legal work.

New to a global company? Working with lawyers in different parts of the world and struggling to connect? It's not just about understanding the language: to work cross-culturally, you need to understand the other party's culture. In this episode, Juliana Calil, former in-house attorney at Google, Intel, Disney and other big name companies shares her experience as a Brazilian lawyer learning how to practice in the US and eventually taking that experience back to Brazil. As Juliana shares, working internationally takes more than being bilingual. She shares how many of the in-house fundamentals are still key in international roles and how being curious about the other party's culture ensures success. We also tackle key differences in how US and Brazilian companies handle IP issues. Estou empolgado com isso!

Y Combinator is the tech incubator that has launched many of today's largest companies–Airbnb, DropBox, Door Dash, Open AI and many, many others. Jonathan Levy, Managing Director and former GC of YC had a role in many of them. On this episode of The Legal Department, Jonathan shares how legal can support start-up companies and help shape the future. He talks about adopting a CEO's mindset, keeping your opinions (and attitude) in check and not letter fears of what might go wrong prevent you from seeing what might go right. YC is also seeding several legal tech companies–Jonathan shares his thoughts about some of these and why they might disrupt the current market leaders. Join us for another episode on how lawyers support innovation.

If this episode doesn't wake you up about what it means to be a business enabler, nothing will. Mick Ebeling, three-time award winner of Time Magazine's Best Invention of the Year, has literally changed the world. Through their "help one, help many" approach, Mick and his team of innovators at Not Impossible Labs have built technology that has changed countless lives: Their inventions:Return the joy of music to the deafHelped a paralyzed artist draw againProvide affordable, ongoing access to prosthetics for those most in need, and off-the-grid, in war-torn South Sudan.Connect the hungry with sustainable sources of food In this conversation with Stacy Bratcher, Mick shares why understanding the big picture and connection with humanity is fundamental for innovating. Put down your red pen, turn off track changes, and learn how to be the lawyer who helps turn the impossible into reality.

Curious about compensation trends for in-house legal roles? What are the different components of private company compensation, how do private equity companies structure equity, or how to evaluate a compensation offer? John Gilmore is a veteran executive recruiter. His firm, Barker Gilmore, conducts one of the industry's most comprehensive surveys on in-house compensation. In this episode, John pulls back the curtain on compensation trends and how GC compensation benchmarks against other roles. He also shares strategies for negotiating compensation and how to nail tough interview questions about comp and other topics.