06-20-12
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
In-House Gig is No Stay-Cation
PUBLISHED IN THE DAILY JOURNAL
The Daily Journal quoted Nat Slavin in a June 20, 2012 article about businesses assigning more work to their inside counsel, defying the traditional stereotype that the job means fewer hours. The article cited the economic downturn and leaner budgets as a reason and said some companies are turning more work over to inside counsel despite a rise in budget allowances.
Slavin said that companies have been giving work to in-house attorneys that they might have once assigned to outside counsel – often due to company-wide budget cuts.
“They are working harder, have tremendous budget pressures, are working with less staff and resources, don’t have fancy electronic solutions to make their workflow more efficient and [they lack] the time or dollars to invest in any of that,” Slavin said of in-house lawyers.
Slavin also disputed the notion that in-house work is easier than work at a firm, noting that each have their own challenges.
“Both jobs require different skill sets, experiences and have pressures that are situationally unique,‚” he said. “If an outside counsel makes a mistake on budgets and deadlines, they tell the in-house counsel, who then has to tell the actual client: the business person.”