In-House Legal Tip: Plan Your In-House Legal Career

Introduction

Ask yourself this – how much time did you spend planning your last holiday? Was it an hour or two? Maybe more? 

Makes sense right – if you only get a few weeks off then you want to make sure you use it wisely yeah?

Another question: how much time did you spend last year planning out your career? 

Here is what we know. Less than 10% of in-house lawyers have formulated a career plan that has been reduced to writing and which they actively implement.

Wow! I will say it again – “wow”.

Your career should, all going well span 4-5 decades and, if you are in the 90%, you spend more time planning a week-long holiday, than you do on your career plan!

Such behavior will not serve you well. So, a few concepts/reminders for you to think about:
 

1. No Plan: 

You tend to end up where you are headed.
 

2. Golden Goose:

Your job pays for the holidays (and a lot of other things).
 

3. Life Sentence: 

Your working career exceeds a prisoner’s “life sentence” in most cases.
 

4. Drudgery Factor: 

Work, if not carefully managed, can be quite unpleasant.
 

5. You’re the Business: 

You are your own business as an in-house lawyer – and all good businesses come with strong management.
 

Conclusion
 

So, if you want to rapidly differentiate your career trajectory – commit to formulating a career plan – and you must spend no less time on it than you spent planning your last holiday.

If you operate in the Pantheon – and planning holidays is not what you do – then you must spend no less time working on your career plan than you spent on your last 18 holes of golf, or perhaps your last dinner at Nobu. 

Over the next few weeks, we will give you the GLS Top 10 factors to bear in mind when formulating your career plan. 
 

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