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."

Janet challenges us to ask ourselves how we are defining success--what does it mean to us to be a good professional? and whether those standards are realistic (and necessary) to succeed at work.  She encourages setting boundaries to hold ourselves accountable so we can make progress toward living the life we want.

Thanks to Filejet for supporting the Office Hours series!

Submit your question to hello@legaldepartmentpod.com. 

In this episode, veteran white collar litigator Diana Feinstein is back in The Legal Department to share step by step tips on how to maintain ACP and work product protections as an in-house attorney. We talk about the basic blocking and tackling of privilege hygiene and explore how AI is impacting this core legal protection.

This is Diana's second tour of duty in The Legal Department--check her out on Episode 3!

An expert on building and cultivating relationships, Melcher also shares his suggestions for building a professional network that will transform your career.

In this episode, you'll learn the difference between User Generated Content and traditional Influencer brand deals; the allocation of intellectual property rights (Spoiler Alert: your company isn't going to own the IP); how negotiating a "Creative Brief" at the outset can ensure alignment and brand consistency in the future; and resources to find market rates/terms for #Influencer deals.

Ellen Yang shares advice for attorneys and managers alike on how to recognize that you (or your team) might be feeling stuck and how to break through that to find something more fulfilling. She has specific advice for senior level lawyers, deputy GCs and associate GCs, about how to fill out that resume to get GC ready.

Ellen also did the unheard of: she returned to a law firm after more than a decade in-house. Tune in to learn about that experience and whether a return to the "dark side" is right for you. Lots of great stories and advice here to help you level-up, whatever that means to you.

Topics:

1. Why Influence Matters

Why personal brand and internal influence are strategic assets

1. Personal Brand in Practice: How We Built Ours

Tactics used to define and project their brand (internally and externally)

Mistakes made and lessons learned along the way

1. Making Yourself Visible Without Being Self-Promotional

Strategies for subtle self-advocacy and internal visibility

Communicating your value to non-legal stakeholders

Leveraging internal wins to grow reputation

1. LinkedIn, Leadership, and Leverage: Career Opportunities Through Branding

Using LinkedIn and networking to create inbound opportunities

How branding helped panelists navigate job transitions or promotions

Advice for in-house lawyers at different stages of their careers

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Why setting an agenda and knowing the meeting objective is table stakes;
• How to know which meetings you need to attend;
• How to manage the clock by "calling a banana";
• How to draw out the introverts by using technology to encourage participation
• Tune in to learn the skills you need to be a meeting pro.

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 clients
• How using metrics can help you "speak CFO" and tell the story of your legal department
• Why understanding the stage of the company and what's needed can help lawyers deliver better services

This episode first appeared on Leveraging Latitude: Cultivating a Full Life in the Law, a podcast by Latitude. Learn more at LATITUDELEGAL.COM.

Other discussions include: 

• How to deal with confidentiality and attorney client privilege with AI tools
• Practical, step-by-step suggestions for drafting prompts for different tasks
• AI use-cases for in-house lawyers
• How to navigate e-discovery

Sterling also shares his favorite AI tools for legal departments–put together after 2 years of research, so you don't have to!

This is an episode you won't want to miss. Bookmark it and listen on a flight so you can take notes!

Got a burning question for Office Hours? Reach out at hello@legaldepartmentpod.com

Their inventions:

• Return the joy of music to the deaf
• Helped a paralyzed artist draw again
• Provide 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.

She also shares how making what became a viral LinkedIn post spurred a conversation about bullying women on maternity leave, which also helped her build influence inside her organization and out.

Kelley and Stacy share tips for making time for career development activities outside of your 9-5, while raising a family.

Additionally, Kelley addresses a listener's Office Hours question about how to get management experience in a flat legal department.

If you've been wondering whether you need to be "out there," this episode is for you.

Topics include: the transition from Deputy GC to General Counsel, how to advocate for budget and headcount, how to set goals, how to get board experience when you're not the GC. Deborah and Sterling also tackle a sticky political issue in the c-suite.

If you have an Office Hours question, please contact The Legal Department at hello@legaldepartmentpod.com

At 20 years old, Eva Shang figured out how to turn litigation into investment returns and is now running a tech-enabled investment firm focused on litigation funding. Legalist, the company she co-founded with Christian Haigh at Y Combinator, now manages $1.5 billion in alternative investments in litigation funding, bankruptcy, and government receivables. In this episode, Eva, now the firm's CEO, shares how litigation funding works, how Legalist's "truffle sniffer" technology sources litigation cases for her team of in-house attorneys to underwrite and evaluate for investment. Eva shares insights on how to evaluate cases and "pick a winner", how to get litigation counsel to set and stick to a budget, and how her team that a "win" will be collectable at the end of the day.

And as a bonus, Eva shares insights of what the CEO wants from their lawyers. Turns out, mitigating risk isn't at the top of the list.

In this episode, Tricia shares advice for:

• How to create an environment that supports all employees and builds a cohesive team;
• How to be a sponsor and help others reach their career aspirations; and
• How the General Counsel can address inappropriate comments and navigate uncomfortable situations

Now a board member at top SaaS company, Salsify, Tricia shares how lawyers can overcome the identity of "lawyer" and land a corporate board seat. She also answers a sticky Office Hours question about how to deal with friction between a GC and their C-suite peer.

In this episode, Alex Su helps us understand the sales team and how to talk the talk and improve our company's results. Alex left a career in litigation to join the sales team of a legal tech start-up and has since been in sales for more than 14 years. A rare breed who understands what drives sales people and what makes lawyers tick, Alex helps us understand how to serve this important part of the business.

Bonus: Alex answers an Office Hours question for a law firm partner trying to build their book of business.

In litigation, news reports highlight the latest embarrassments—or even sanctions—of lawyers who relied on AI bots to write briefs with hallucinated, made-up cases. In this episode, Alex Alben, a two-time tech GC and the former Chief Privacy Officer of the state of Washington, helps us understand how AI tools can be used responsibly in litigation. He also shares how in-house counsel can ensure law firms are using them appropriately and provides clues for identifying AI-generated content before it's filed.

Alex also discusses how law firms can use their own data to evaluate performance in different courts, assess the effectiveness of arguments, and more. He suggests firms "mine their own data" and consider hiring a data scientist to access this untapped resource.

Tune in to hear about the potential for AI to improve litigation outcomes.

Plus, in this special Office Hours segment, Joe tackles a tricky listener question: What should you do if your boss gives the board incorrect advice?

Get expert insights and practical strategies from Inside Counsel Academy to strengthen your in-house legal career.

In this episode of The Legal Department, veteran litigator Adwoa Ghartey-Tagoe Seymour, VP of Litigation at Albertsons Companies, shares actionable advice to tackle all these challenges and more.

Whether your company is large or small, your budget is limited, or your legal technology is basic, this episode delivers practical tips to streamline litigation management and boost efficiency. Don’t miss it!

Stacy shares her unique career journey, from her early days in government to her current leadership role. She offers advice on cultivating curiosity, the importance of building strong relationships in the legal field, and why your first job doesn't have to define your career path. Tune in for valuable perspectives and inspiration for lawyers at all stages of their careers.

In this episode, Elizabeth Smith and Michael Albino of Major, Lindsey & Africa share why delegating is critical in The Legal Department and how interim talent can help you keep your head above water. Elizabeth and Michael lead interim placements for MLA and have seen hundreds of legal teams. They share best practices for onboarding, how temporary help refreshes a legal team and brings a consultant's mindset to the department, and how interim work can be an on-ramp to an in-house career. If you're feeling overwhelmed and need an extra set of hands, this episode is for you.

Tracey Lester-Smith, former General Counsel of NASCAR and Bellator MMA, joins The Legal Department to help lawyers confidently give opinions. Tracey argues that providing thoughtful opinions is a key differentiator between good lawyers and truly great ones.

In this episode, Tracey shares how working with civil rights icon Elijah Cummings and her MMA training empowered her to give opinions as the first lawyer in a male-dominated combat sports company. She also discusses her transition from the racetrack to a year-long family journey around the world, and how she learned to take her hands "off the wheel."

If you're ready to elevate your legal advice and become an indispensable advisor, this episode is a must-listen.

They describe how the GC role is different than other in-house roles:

• It's more business and management and less lawyering and legal work. They share examples of the additional duties "as assigned," including what it's like to lead a cultural transformation.
• Why building your team and delegating is essential; and
• The different "soft skills" and communication needed to succeed.

But these skills aren't out of reach. Julie and Deborah are designing share a new program to help aspiring GCs. As a new GC, Deborah founded Ready Set GC, a professional development program aimed at helping women GCs succeed in the role and connect with peers in a safe, collaborative environment. Identifying a gap in the market for emerging in-house leaders (deputies, associate GCs, etc.), Ready Set GC is also developing the Ready Set DGC to GC Program to elevate the next generation of leaders.

If you’re considering the next step in your in-house career, this episode of The Legal Department is for you.

In this episode, you'll learn Eric's suggestions for selecting and managing outside counsel for "bet the company" litigation and M&A, how to get comfortable with being uncomfortable, and how to vet opportunities to join the legal department of a start-up. Eric's energy and passion are sure to get you pumped up.

She shares practical, actionable advice for succeeding in mediation, including the key steps of doing your homework and identifying the problem you're trying to solve before you enter the room.

She also offers tips for finding the right mediator to resolve your case, preparing for mediation, and the magic that can occur from joint sessions.

Finally, we talk about career growth--how to think broadly about what you want and why it's important to "ask for more" at work.

Her beautifully written book, Ask for More, is a must-read. With 10 simple questions, Alex shows us how we can find the "more" in business, law, and life.

In this episode of The Legal Department, change management consultant Michele Mollkoy shares how curiosity, listening, and self-awareness are crucial for lawyers leading teams. Whether you're the leader or a team member, you need to be curious about others on your team, what motivates them, and how to align team strengths to department goals. It's good to be curious about what's important to the boss. Tune in to this episode for insights on moving from an individual contributor to a team leader.

In this episode, we'll explore this innovative program and how its triple aim benefits firm lawyers, the firm, and ultimately, their clients. Joe also shares his thoughts on how to build a relationship with outside counsel that is mutually beneficial for the client and the firm.  It all comes down to communication and using the Golden Rule in your relationships.

In this episode, we dive into the Mansfield Certification and how to engage with law firms on staffing and advancement for all attorneys. However, DEI is more than a buzzword. In this conversation, the components of a DEI program are good business. By prioritizing transparency, broadening the playing field for stretch projects, and being intentional about work assignments, the General Counsel and other in-house leaders deliver a better working environment and a better bottom line. And it's no coincidence that Valerie's pump-up song is "Level Up" by Ciara.

Betsy has devoted much of her career to helping women advance in their profession and into the boardroom. This episode is a “must listen” for anyone seeking a place in the board room. Check out 50/50 Women on Boards and their amazing educational events for aspiring board members.

https://www.mlaglobal.com/en