Your First Legal Hire and Your Hundredth – Six Things That Matter Every Time
By Sean Gallagher, Co-Founder Breakpoint Strategy
Your first legal hire and your hundredth have more in common than you might think.
I made those calls as a General Counsel. Now, at Breakpoint, I help other in-house leaders make them. Hiring comes up often with GCs in our community, and the same few things matter every time.
Six Things That Matter in Every Legal Hire
1. Know what problem you’re solving
Sometimes you need another lawyer. Sometimes you need legal ops, a better process, or a different split of the work.
2. Look for judgment
Credentials tell you someone can do the work. I always wanted to know whether they could make a sound call with half the facts while the business waited.
3. Listen for how they translate
Great in-house lawyers turn “it depends” into a recommendation. Ask how they’d explain a risk to your CFO.
4. Think about who they’ll sit next to
The résumé tells you whether someone can do the job. Fit tells you whether they’ll thrive in it: with the business partners they support, the colleagues around them, and the leader they report to. The best fits make everyone around them better.
5. Protect the momentum
Speed for its own sake was never my goal. Still, momentum is real, and a process that drags can cool even the most excited candidate. Your first choice should never wonder whether they’re still your first choice.
6. Hire for potential
Look for passion, hunger, and someone who could one day do their boss’s job. Those are the seeds of growth down the line.
Why This Work Matters to Us
Scott Chaplin and I both sat in the GC chair before we started Breakpoint Strategy. We built it to serve in-house legal, and only in-house legal. We know how much one hire can change a department because we’ve lived it. Helping our community get those hires right is the work we care about most.
If you’re thinking about your next hire, or you just want to compare notes, I’m always happy to be a sounding board. You can learn more about how we help on our Solutions page, or reach us through our Contact page.
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Sean Gallagher is Co-Founder of Breakpoint Strategy, which works exclusively with the in-house legal community.
