Our Story

CLL is a resource for in-house lawyers on everything other than law.

What is CLL?

CLL provides advice, insights and support to help you find your feet and build your career as an in-house lawyer. We cover everything from your first 100 days in the role, through team building and gaining respect across your organisation, to succession planning.  

And it’s freely accessible. 

Why have you created this?

As the in-house legal community grows in size, stature, and complexity of roles, there’s an increasing need for a credible and durable source of answers to the questions in-house lawyers have. The best answers need to come from those who have been in-house and faced similar challenges.

How did CLL come to life?

We formed a team of in-house legal experts from diverse backgrounds. Their mission was to write, review and comment on content so that what we publish is relevant and appropriate in as many in-house contexts as possible.

Most of our articles have the combined in-house experience of more than 50 years behind them because the pre-publishing review process typically involves three to five in-house lawyers.

In specialist areas increasingly relevant to in-house lawyers, such as mental health, Bitcoin and financial statements, we brought in experts to write the copy. We then made it lawyer-relevant through our review process.

Is everything here relevant to me?

That's unlikely. No two in-house lawyers work in equivalent circumstances. Differences in sector, geography and organisational culture - not to mention an individual’s own outlook, strengths and development areas, mean everyone's experience of working in-house is unique. There is no commonly agreed view on many of the topics we cover through the website articles so think of this site as a series of thought-provoking essays to shape and refine your outlook before making your mind up.

That said, most of the articles here will be relevant to you most of the time, regardless of the jurisdiction, scale, type of organisation or sector you work in. In time, as you add your comments and we fine-tune the content, they’ll become even more valuable to you.  

What happens next?

We want this site to be relevant;

• Clear
• Concise;
• Coherent;
• Comprehensive;
• Constantly updated;
• Current; and
• Community-driven. 

With your help, we’ll achieve these aims. Your comments and contributions will be a big part of the success of this site.

Why the name Centre for Legal Leadership?

Quite simply, because we look to be the forum where in-house legal leaders exchange thoughts and views to others within the in-house legal community.
 
At whatever stage of in-house career, there's always something to be learnt from others in order to run an excellent in-house legal function and progress one's career.

On career paths specifically, we provide a road map by aggregating the experiences of many in-house lawyers into a hopefully coherent journey.

What other services do you provide?

We’re developing services according to demand.  At the very least these will include educational offerings; webinars, and access to mentoring and coaching opportunities.  We will be guided by demand from the CLL readership and also input from co-sponsors. The aim is to provide services and support free of charge where possible or at preferential rates. Any chargeable support services to in-house lawyers are priced at incurred cost plus reasonable recovery of CLL overheads.

How can I get involved?

By reading website content, commenting and contributing via our contact us or LinkedIn page.

Tell us what you like, don’t like or what you think merits a webinar or a discussion group. This is your resource and our aim is to improve it continuously with your input.

Who’s behind CLL? 

You can find out about the core team behind CLL including our Advisory Panel and also our community of expert authors, contributors and reviewers. 

What is your relationship with RPC

The Centre for Legal Leadership was founded by and continues to be sponsored by RPC – which is best known as a law firm.  The firm's partners have invested in setting up the Centre in the form of a website delivering content relevant to those with in-house responsibilities and events on topical issues – also providing the opportunity to network with other in-house lawyers. The Centre will evolve over time to provide other services – particularly around professional development and education.

RPC's sponsorship of the Centre is aimed at helping in-house lawyers with the aspects of their role beyond the purely legal.  Of course the firm hopes these value-added services will raise awareness of RPC and its wider offering available to existing and future clients, but there will be no hard sell of that side of the business.  Most of The Centre's services are free – and the cost of provision is covered by sponsorship – with some contributions from other featured organisations and individuals.  Specialist and tailored services from the Centre and its staff, eg. bespoke education, will be charged for by agreement.  

Thank you

Rebecca Cater

Head of The Centre for Legal Leadership