Canadian Lawyer InHouse

43 CANADIANLAWYERMAG.COM/INHOUSE NOVEMBER 2016 to be and what you can do to help," he adds. According to Stock, a strategic plan can help a legal department become less reactive and develop a sharper focus. "It increases the odds that things are going to get done and it lets people outside the legal department know as well," he states. The duration of the plan may de- pend on the company's own strat- egy, but Cullen says he believes it is worthwhile to set a specifi c timeline, yet with fl exibility. "You have to see it as a 'living' plan. We adjust. Still, it has a real objective that we can strive for. What is the destination you want your team to reach?" Drafting or formulating a strate- gic plan for the legal department is the responsibility of much more than one person, stresses Miller. "It is not just the GC's job. It is everyone's job. How do I get my team energized and involved in the process" is a question the general counsel should be asking, Miller says. Part of the plan should in- clude specifi c goals for other members of the department. "What opportuni- ties am I going to provide for younger or mid-tier lawyers," says Miller. Getting feedback from your colleagues is essential, agrees Cullen, who oversees a team of fi ve lawyers and one paralegal at Pfi zer Canada. "You have to put your pride at the door. Unless they have signifi cant engagement in the process, your team will see this simply as more work," he states. As well, general counsel and their colleagues should be willing to look outside the legal world for ideas on drafting and implementing a strategic plan, he suggests. "Don't be afraid to read things that are not directed at lawyers," says Cullen. Perhaps the great challenge for in-house L a w D e p a r t m e n t M a n a g e m e n t in your department, he says. A lot of business "self-education" is often required of lawyers internally, beyond that of legal expertise, so they can better understand the objectives of the company, says Cullen, who received the "up and comer" award this year from the Canadian Corporate Counsel Association. To assist in reaching these goals requires a good relationship between the general counsel and senior executives, says Miller. "You have to be at the table," he says. "Then you can look at where the company wants counsel when it comes to a strategic plan is fi nding ways to measure legal services beyond that of the fi nancial bottom line. The advantage of being able to do so not only benefi ts the company but the worth of the legal department internally, notes Miller. The legal department does not want to be seen as "just a cost centre," he writes in a recent blog posting on how to market in-house lawyers to the executives. Setting "hard measurable" goals can be diffi cult for legal departments, says Miller. Except for the budget, "everything can be kind of fuzzy" when trying to quantify the value of legal services, he concedes. It is a view that is echoed by Cullen. "How do I measure good legal advice? It is hard," he says. However, without some met- rics, a strategic plan is not very useful for a legal department, everyone agrees. One of the key aspects of any plan is the feedback the legal department receives from the company and the type of survey questions that are included, says Stock. "At the end of the year, if you have a survey asking what kind of difference the legal department made, they have to be able to answer you," he explains. A survey that asks if there is general satisfaction with the work of the legal department is not suffi cient, says the legal fi rm consultant. When he was practicing as general coun- sel, the client satisfaction surveys included "hard numbers" in a number of areas, Miller says. "We set up key performance indicators that we tried to measure and we had a goal of increasing satisfaction with the legal de- partment by 10 per cent, year over year," he recounts. By doing this, a legal department can get a better sense of its value and also assist in asking the right questions if the numbers have dropped. While there is an intangible aspect to the value of legal services, Cullen concurs that hard numbers are needed to measure per- formance as well as what he refers to as a "frank assessment" from senior executives. "You need honest feedback," he says. Just as important, he says, is that once a plan is created and put into action, it does not get ignored. "Real life can hit you and you forget about it. A plan exists, but with no execution. You have to go back to it regularly," says Cullen. IH Everything sounds more important if you slap the word 'strategic' on it. But the plan should use basic language. You should be able to get it, even if you have just been hired. JONATHAN CULLEN, Pfi zer Canada.

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