New Lexis+ Resources For In-House Legal Teams To Develop Skills For Demanding Job

In-house counsel are facing simultaneous headwinds of rising internal demands and pressures to control spending in an uncertain economic climate. Roughly one in four in-house counsel are anticipating decreased corporate investments in 2023, according to Law360 Pulse, a challenge made greater by the fact that nearly half of corporate legal spending goes to outside law firms.

Meanwhile, in-house counsel jobs have become far more demanding in the past couple of years. “The fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic has further increased workloads for legal department lawyers who must address a complex array of issues,” reports LegalDive, which noted that nearly half of in-house counsel indicated in a 2022 survey that they were feeling stressed or burned out.

These dual forces of increased demands and constrained resources leave in-house counsel with limited time to acquire business knowledge and management skills to help them succeed in their roles.

New LexisNexis Resource for In-House Counsel

This is the need that LexisNexis is seeking to address with the introduction of a new practice area on Lexis+ that is dedicated to assisting in-house counsel: In-House Advisor.

In-House Advisor is the only dedicated practice area for in-house counsel currently available from a major online legal research provider. The section was built by the award-winning team at Lexis Practical Guidance to provide a comprehensive set of business and legal resources curated to assist in-house legal professionals who need fast access to information and tools in this demanding job.

Skills that Matter to Modern In-House Counsel

The In-House Advisor practice area provides a designated location for LexisNexis content focused on the function of being an in-house counsel, covering essential topics such as risk management, business skills and legal operations. The library of online content is organized into nine categories of topics and tasks:

1. Trends and Insights
2. In-House Resource Kits
3. Ethics and Attorney-Client Privilege
4. Strategic, Operational, and Financial Management
5. Risk Management
6. Outside Counsel Management
7. Leadership and Legal Team Development
8. Business Skills
9. Soft Skills

The resources available within the new practice area include practice notes authored by respected peers that provide guidance on a wide range of legal matters, videos that cover important business management topics, checklists that provide quick reference guides on how to complete essential in-house legal tasks, and articles drafted by legal experts that keep in-house counsel up to date on the latest trends in the industry.

In-House Resource Kits Provide Practical Guidance Resources

The In-House Resource Kits, which aggregate a suite of Practical Guidance resources related to a specific topic confronting in-house counsel, are particularly valuable assets. The kit subjects range from those focused on important legal matters (e.g., bank failures, structuring corporate transactions, etc.) to those that provide practical business insights (e.g., legal department management, training and guidance, etc.).

In addition to all of the on-point practical guidance that legal professionals expect from LexisNexis, In-House Advisor was developed to help in-house counsel deal with some of their unique challenges that extend beyond legal affairs. Some of these roles include:

• Business Advisor — in-house counsel need to participate in discussions about and contribute to business initiatives/strategy;
• Risk Management and Compliance — in-house counsel are tasked with identifying, managing and mitigating legal risks within the organization;
• Crisis Management — when crises arise, in-house counsel must be prepared to play a critical role in managing the situations;
• Company Leadership — in-house counsel need to interact effectively with colleagues from many professional backgrounds throughout the organization, which requires “soft skills” that promote productive interactions; and
• Outside Counsel Management — legal team members must spend a significant amount of time managing their outside law firms and analyzing legal spending with financial rigor.

The new In-House Advisor practice area, which is available on Lexis+ General Counsel Suite, provides access to a comprehensive set of legal resources and tools that help in-house counsel better manage risk, oversee legal operations, and cultivate the business skills to succeed as part of a broader organization. This is the latest addition to the robust content from LexisNexis that is tailored to meet the needs of in-house counsel.

To do more with less, today’s in-house counsel must have fast access to the information they need to shape legal strategy and adapt to changing circumstances. Lexis+® General Counsel Suite provides in-house counsel with a vast collection of legal resources, breaking business and legal news, and practical guidance content that includes practice notes, templates and checklists. It is an all-in-one information resource designed for the modern GC.

Experience the new In-House Advisor practice area for yourself:

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