Law letter
In-house lawyer
Recently it is very common to have lawyers working full time for companies. The number of lawyers can be as low as one single lawyer to even a team of 20/30 lawyers. The need has increased for various reasons. But the most important reason I would say is the awareness for being compliant with laws and avoiding a bad bargain. Most of the multinational companies have a full fledged legal department providing day to day legal advices, drafting agreements and attending negotiations etc. Though it may apparently seem very expensive to have such a department and lawyers working in house, but it helps to save precious time of business and making decisions by getting quick legal advice. Moreover, having lawyers negotiating and drafting the contract helps to minimize the risk of contractual disputes and the protection of the best interest of the parties.
Let me give an example here. In developed world, a very small number of business disputes end in court. This is because, they appoint lawyers for negotiation for resolving the dispute and when negotiation fails, they resolve the dispute through arbitration. In Bangladesh we have Arbitration Act 2001, which states that if the parties have chosen arbitration as the dispute resolution forum then in normal cases the court will not entertain such disputes and shall refer the dispute to arbitration. If the business agreements are drafted by lawyers, then the possibility is that such an arbitration clause will be included in the agreement. Such inclusion will surely save litigation hassles and money.
Now the question is how well we are using this concept. There exists a number of problems. Firstly, due to the common mindset, we always visualize lawyers in courtroom and a lawyer who is not practicing in court is not considered as a true lawyer. Secondly, since it is a salaried job, mostly the young fresh graduates feel attracted by this option. This is very risky because in our education system, opportunity of practical training is very limited; and hence without having any practical knowledge and training they start providing legal advice. Thirdly, even a lawyer, who is experienced in court, is not always suitable for this job. Because beside knowledge in contract law, company law, financial laws etc. this job requires very good agreement drafting and negotiation skills. In our country there are not many corporate law chambers, hence a limited number of lawyers get the opportunity to get training in this specialized areas. In addition to these, another major problem is that, when a lawyer becomes experienced, the amount of money he/she can earn from court practices goes much higher than what he/she will earn being an in-house lawyer. Therefore every year it is seen that many in-house lawyers are returning to court practice as they feel that they have reached the highest limit this job offers. In this way, the companies lose the support of experienced lawyers.
It must be appreciated that in-house lawyers must have certain extra qualities. They have to be more than a lawyer. A lawyer sitting in chamber can easily forbids a client from doing something saying that it is prohibited by law. But an in-house lawyer's job is not only to indicate the problem but also to find the legally acceptable alternative way. For this the lawyer has to have a very clear idea of the particular business. Definitely having an MBA adds extra mark for this job. It will be mistaken to think that an in-house lawyer only deals with company law and contract law. Starting from contract law, he/she has to know criminal law, anti corruption laws, banking and financial laws, securities laws, commercial laws, environment laws, taxation laws, consumer laws, inheritance laws etc. Also sometimes the lawyers need to give input for business strategy issues and policy making.
The attitude is also very different here. You always have to show a can-do attitude and give legal advice fast. It is also part of the job to explain the opinion precisely and in very clear understandable way. The business people do not need to know all the legalese and detailed analysis of case laws. Many time what they need is a simple yes-no answer. You have to be also ready to do some extra work such as reporting to the board members/ management, providing training for raising awareness etc. Presentation skill has to be very good and only computer literacy is not enough here. Fluency in English is a must.
Though Bangladesh is a bit late for adopting the global trend, but it is high time for the concerned to focus on this area. Besides contributing towards creating job opportunities, this concept has the potential to open doors for our lawyers to serve in foreign countries. Indians are very much ahead on this and they are using their expertise for international outsourcing as well. Bangladesh Bar Council should play a leading role to arrange appropriate training facilities for the interested young lawyers and also encourage lawyers to change the mindset.
Jahrat Adib Chowdhury
Barrister-at-Law, Supreme Court of Bangladesh
