Responsibilities, skills and competencies of the Director of Legal Affairs

From a management perspective, the legal department clearly stands out from other departments in the company. It is distinguished by a special type of intelligence and character among the staff, heavy mental load, difficulty in setting KPIs and a lot of other nuances. The head of the legal department, the Director of Legal Affairs, must turn the legal department into a stable and effective mechanism.

We have prepared a list of responsibilities and functions of the head of the legal department, as well as a list of soft skills that should not be neglected. Take this checklist and develop what you are missing specifically.

Responsibilities of the Legal Director as a Lawyer

There is no established definition of the concept of “head of legal services” - studies interpret the term differently, and the job descriptions of the director of legal affairs in companies are radically different. You can find both banal “consulting employees on legal issues” and general “analysis of the law in the context of the company’s activities.”

We propose to highlight three areas in which the head of lawyers must have a professional understanding - they are mandatory for companies in any segment.

Contract work

As the head of the legal department, you must build a clear system for working with contracts at all levels:

Prepare frequently occurring patterns with the help of subordinates.
Write down an algorithm for agreeing on conditions - when the legal service gets involved in the issue, at what stages the document needs to be endorsed.
Create a system in which company employees do not make legal errors in processes.

To do this, you will have to determine a list of specialists who are involved in contractual work and agreement of conditions, write down instructions - this is interaction with other departments. It is important to take into account the specifics of the enterprise and possible risks in a specific market segment.

Forensic work

Conventionally, this area can be divided into two parts - work in the court itself and prevention of situations that may create a danger in the proceedings. There are also nuances - for example, candidate of legal sciences Alexey Goloshchapov, a teacher at the Russian School of Management, in some situations suggests, on the contrary, drawing up an agreement so that in some cases your counterparty will actually have to go to court.

For example, this is one of the measures to influence an unscrupulous supplier - when he violates his obligations, you can influence him with proceedings. Specify in the contract the right to withhold penalties and fines - then the counterparty will go to court himself and may then get an unpleasant result if the legal work is done correctly.

Organization of judicial work in the company

Here is a list of the functions of a legal director that will help a company in the courts:

Establish constant monitoring of regulations governing judicial claims work.
Create a general description of the processes for all interested departments - the procedure for interaction during inspection activities, deadlines for providing documents, communication with government representatives (GR), mandatory actions when working with contractors.
Develop KPIs for employees dealing with courts, establish a system of informing about all stages of legal proceedings.
Create a claims control system.
Publish guidelines for employees who participate in court hearings.
Create an uninterrupted process of studying court cases and decisions on the profile of companies, monitor the characteristics of specific courts at various stages and procedural actions.

Now the head of the company's legal department has to understand not only documents and processes, but also digital capabilities - this increases productivity and reduces bureaucratic red tape. For example, a system for tracking innovations in laws, the “My Arbitrator” system and other services for lawyers will be useful.

Legal support for management taking into account defects in corporate law

Unlike an ordinary lawyer, a legal director must be a highly qualified specialist in the field of corporate law, understand the defects of the system and the problems that may arise because of this in arbitration practice.

The duties of the manager include:

Creation of a monitoring system for changes in legislation. In particular, attention should be paid to Federal Law No. 210 of June 29, 2015, the Law “On Bankruptcy” in terms of subsidiary liability of persons and various Plenums on this topic. This can be done using special services.
A thorough study of the law in the field of shareholder problems, in terms of convening and holding a general meeting of shareholders, problems of possible bankruptcy, reliability of information in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities and other corporate difficulties.
Training legal service employees in the specifics of corporate law, including in terms of inspection of the company by authorities at various state levels, inspection by lawyers of other legal entities during liquidation and takeover.

Our corporate law courses cover, among other things:

Approval of transactions made on behalf of a legal entity.
Features of application of Art. 67 Civil Code of the Russian Federation.
Problems of the legal status of a sole management body or the presence of several directors.
Bad faith and carelessness of the general director.
Resolution of labor disputes.
Major transactions in corporate law. Review of judicial practice.

The list of problems and features in corporate law only in the program of our legal director training course takes up several pages. At the lectures and seminars themselves, the topic is discussed much more widely - without a thorough knowledge of the features of this area, the company can suffer great damage.

Job Description Deputy General Director for Legal Issues

3.43. Cooperate with the administration of the enterprise in organizing safe and harmless working conditions, personally take all feasible measures to eliminate any production situation that poses a threat to his life and health or the people around him and the environment.

When hiring an employee for such a responsible vacancy, the employer is guided by a set of rules that are regulated by a standard document defining the duties and responsibilities of the deputy chief. Depending on their needs and the characteristics of their activities, management can adjust some of the nuances in the standard instructions, but in any case they must comply with the letter of the law and not violate the rights and freedoms of employees.

26 Jul 2021 jurist7sib 141

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Requirements for the head of legal services

When hiring the head of the legal department of a company, different requirements are presented - this is mainly due to the specifics of the organization. If an enterprise works with retail, then you need to understand the Law on the Protection of Consumer Rights; if the main turnover is ensured by tenders, then understanding the Federal Law on procurement, including government procurement, will be key. For IT business, knowledge of both basic branches of law and special ones, for example, copyright protection, is often decisive.

Job responsibilities of the Deputy General Director

Example:
The general director and founder of Dal LLC deals exclusively with production issues at the enterprise. The company is successfully growing and developing, and it needs strong legal and economic support. The general director introduces the position of deputy for economic and legal issues, relieving himself of all responsibilities in these areas, exercising only general control over the state of affairs.

Thus, it is the deputy who must monitor the implementation of planned values, monitor the discipline and performance of employees, provide reports to higher authorities or founders, submit declarations to the relevant authorities and organize the work process.

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Skills of a Legal Director as a Leader

In addition to legal knowledge and the ability to organize the work of the legal department both within the company and outside it, the head of the legal department will be required to have a number of competencies and qualities necessary for an effective leader.

We have already written about how to develop management skills. Here are the main points:

Start planning - the key idea here is to break a big task into several small ones. Learn modern time management techniques, personal and team, such as Scrum.
Practice organizing work - determining an employee’s ability to solve a problem, choosing the most effective solution method, finding resources, understanding control methods.
Delegate – Answer questions before delegating a task. Does the employee have enough competencies, time, responsibility and authority?

Train yourself in negotiation - this will be useful both in complex legal communication and in leadership. Prepare for dialogue - you should always have a backup plan and the “right to no.” We have prepared a large article on how to negotiate effectively.

Hone your public speaking technique—court speaking skills are not enough for a legal director. You will have to represent the company at complex events with partners, act as a lecturer at conferences, increase your expertise at webinars and in communicating with the media. If you have problems speaking in front of an unfamiliar audience, read how to overcome your fear of public speaking.

Update your knowledge

The world of law and management is rapidly changing. New leadership techniques are constantly emerging, and legislators are making changes to regulations. In order to keep up and remain competitive, you have to pass through a lot of information. It is better if it is without “water”, saturated with practical, real knowledge, and not theory. Here are some ways to improve your skills without leaving work:

Establish monitoring of innovations in the legislative area you need - special services and specialized journals will help with this.
Attend conferences - choose those where the speakers include practices that interest you.
If the company is quite large, do not forget about cooperation as an expert with legislative bodies.
Engage in personal PR - publish articles in specialized media, prepare comments for federal media. This will increase your recognition, you will begin to be invited as an expert to public events - even more practical acquaintances and, accordingly, more important information from colleagues.
Find a comprehensive course where practitioners break down the intricacies and nuances of the legal area that suits you, talk about legal tricks and discuss interesting court decisions.

If you are just planning to head a legal department, we recommend our specialized course, in which expert practitioners intensively share the distillation of important knowledge and skills gained in corporate work and complex litigation.
About the course “Director of Legal Affairs” Author: Dmitry Kuzmin