Focus on the development of in-house counsel

Chile and the world have been discussing for several years the necessary actions to overcome decades of irresponsible growth, and the impact this had had in our environment, as part of the national compromise we became part through the Paris Agreement in 2015. Since then, our governments have been implementing short and long-term actions to overturn climate change, while development efforts on non-conventional renewal energy projects have pushed energy industry companies, seeking to develop, construct, operate and own or transfer energy projects of small scale, to take advantage of the pricing structure that allows to easily finance them.

Companies, especially the ones allocated in thriving industries such as energy, provide a very competitive set up for the development of lawyers, allowing them to specialise in areas that used to be allocated exclusively in law firms: regulated markets, project finance, business and project development, estate law, labour law, mergers and acquisitions, and corporate law. Over the last years, companies of all sizes have been creating small law firms inside private companies, partnering with firms to address spot issues or tasks deepened in specialised areas, maintaining the day-to-day legal work within the company. This strategy has the advantage of lowering legal costs and allows for better control and knowledge of key aspects of the business, granted by the devotion of an entire team of lawyers focused on the wants and needs of only one client. This also means a high learning curve and in general great added value of each team member.

Today, internal legal teams compete with traditional law firms, and this competitiveness force us, as team leaders, to challenge ourselves and make efforts to inspire and enchant our team members. This quest means we need to take positive actions to train our people, involve them in the business, allow them to work with other teams, encourage an agreeable work environment, balancing work and personal life, and make them participate in something bigger than them. For us lawyers, educated in traditional law schools, this also represents a challenge, as the future of the profession should include the management of people in the mandatory curriculum.