This includes practical strategies for structuring global legal teams, recruiting local talent, promoting knowledge sharing, and ensuring cohesive communication to mitigate risks and drive efficiency.
Increasing globalisation means many General Counsels are managing legal risk and delivery on a global basis, dealing with multiple legal systems, regulatory requirements and business priorities.
It also means they’re responsible for managing people across wide-ranging cultures.
Structuring a global legal team
Decentralised vs. Centralised Models
If your organisation has grown over time, either organically or by acquisitions, it may now have a decentralised legal function, with local legal teams reporting to local management.
However, a better model might be for the General Counsel to control the organisation’s global legal affairs, including:
- A cohesive approach to legal service delivery and quality;
- Enhanced knowledge sharing and team collaboration;
- Efficient resource allocation for global and HQ projects;
- Career development and skill building opportunities for local team members; and
- Cost savings.
Centralisation may face resistance. Local management might worry their legal partner will shift priorities away from local needs. Meanwhile, local legal teams may fear losing autonomy or being undermined by decisions made at HQ. For these reasons, you’ll need to act sensitively and with clear support from the organisation’s executive.
Navigating Resistance
To address these concerns:
- Gain executive support: Demonstrate how centralisation can lead to cost savings and operational efficiencies.
- Emphasise benefits: Highlight broader corporate knowledge, enhanced local insights, and improved global connections.
- Build trust: Work closely with local management to show that the GC’s oversight assists, rather than hinders, local objectives.
Recruiting local lawyers
Local Talent vs. Remote Support
Consider whether an in-house lawyer is essential for each jurisdiction or if support can be provided from HQ, a regional hub, or external counsel. For jurisdictions with significant contract negotiation or unique legal frameworks, local expertise is often indispensable. Bear in mind the language skills and level of local legal experience, especially when dealing with civil code.
This is sometimes called doing a "SAEFty - Same As (HQ jurisdiction) Except For.... Check". If you have significant numbers of commercial contract negotiations in any particular jurisdiction, you’re more likely to need a lawyer with experience in the local market.
Key Recruitment Considerations
- Understand local qualifications: Research how lawyers are qualified and the regulatory framework they work within, especially in areas where legal privilege might be relevant to communications and work done.
- Utilise trusted networks: Collaborate with reputable recruitment agencies, trusted law firms with local presence, or other GCs with experience in the region.
- Plan for delays: Recruitment in unfamiliar jurisdictions could take longer. Rather than rushing the process consider using interim lawyers or secondees to handle immediate issues while permanent candidates are identified.
Onboarding Best Practices
Once recruited it’s a good idea for your new colleagues to spend time with you at your organisation’s HQ before they start in their country. This will ensure they:
- Meet the global management team.
- Understand the culture and strategy of the Organisation.
- Learn key reporting and legal risk management requirements.
It's vital for you to schedule regular check ins with them and their management early on and in order to understand local issues they might have to give support to your team member as being part of your team.
It is also good to get them involved in team and international projects early on. Including working with, visiting and being visited by other legal team members from other sites. Habits formed early tend to stick so make sure they are the right habits!
Communicating and managing across time zones
Building strong connections
Meeting your direct reports or, if your legal department is relatively small, your entire team at least once a year will bring significant benefits. If your team is large with a wide geographical spread, consider regional meetings.
Use these meetings to:
- Strengthen team bonds.
- Review and measure how you manage global legal risk;
- Facilitate legal training and strategy alignment.
If you have sole lawyers in some jurisdictions, consider scheduling fixed online meetings with them, especially with new hires, people on long-term projects and troubled performers. Three to four 1-to-1 meetings a year is a good minimum target.
Creative Solutions for Time Zones
- Buddy systems: Pair local lawyers with HQ or regional colleagues to promote knowledge sharing.
- Cross-jurisdictional groups: Form interest groups around topics like data protection or anti-bribery laws to encourage collaboration.
- Leverage time zones: Assign research tasks or document reviews to paralegals in different time zones to speed up turnarounds.
If you have a really large team, consider physical or remote role swap/secondment opportunities that enable lawyers in one jurisdiction to gain experience in others - even if they can only do this remotely from their home or office desk.
Managing cultural differences
Cultural awareness in action
Take time to understand the different cultures your team operates in. This involves going further than merely adapting your communication style and making yourself understood.
Think about how people in different countries view in-house lawyers. In some regions, they may be seen as business facilitators rather than risk controllers. In this scenario, you’ll need to consider how to support your local team and help them meet their corporate risk management goals.
Practical considerations
Be mindful of:
- Different work patterns and statutory employment rights.
- Local holidays, customs, and lifestyle differences.
- The potential for miscommunication, even among fluent English speakers.
Most international commercial lawyers speak good English. However, even with fluent English speakers, indirect communication or colloquial language can cause confusion. It may be useful to hold language and communication styles training across your team to avoid unnecessary breakdowns in communication.
Knowledge management and sharing
Modern tools for knowledge sharing
Invest in knowledge management systems like SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, or Notion to:
- Store precedents and guidance.
- Enable team members to ask questions and share expertise.
- Promote collaboration across jurisdictions.
Encouraging contribution
Encourage all team members, including HQ, to actively contribute to the knowledge base. Use feedback from the international team to tailor the system to their needs.
Aligning goals and legal department strategy
Balancing local and global priorities
Communicate the legal department’s strategy clearly, and align local objectives to global business goals.
Be very aware of the SAEFty check as seemingly trivial requirements from HQ to conform local practices to central requirements may create local compliance and/or cultural issues that expose and unsettle local management and can put your local lawyer into a difficult position.
For example, ensure local lawyers aren’t put in untenable positions like justifying actions that may violate local regulations to satisfy HQ’s consistent approach.
You’ll need to prioritise, which will mean juggling factors such as risk levels, business value and jurisdictions. If this causes concern among your local legal teams, take time to explain your decisions and discuss any concerns they may have before goals are set in stone and published.
Conclusion
Managing teams across jurisdictions and cultures isn’t easy – there’s no one-size-fits-all approach. For this reason, it’s vital to understand local needs as well as global legal risks and to establish trust through regular and meaningful communication.
Angus Haig has written a perspective on this article, please click here to read.