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Prioritization. The hard conversation is what is essential, what's worth doing when there's time, and what you should just stop doing because it's not worth the effort.
The key is to do fewer things well and delay things that aren't time-sensitive
I plan to stay here as long as possible, but there are obvious downsides as I’ve mentioned here. I do like the GC but I hear your caution and it is noted. It’s a ton of really good experience and most of what I do is relatively complex (even with contracts, I don’t see the basic ones even - I just see things that have major impact to the business or high value). I will get some M&A action soon I anticipate but that just means I’ll be doing M&A support plus product work plus all of the other ad hoc stuff my BUs need. I do think there is an expiration for this role but I want to get the most out of it before I leave. I think that makes sense at least.
If the work crush is coming from the BUs you support, maybe talk with the GC about how to set up a legal intake system with each BU, and set up recurring meetings with the managers in the BU to get a heads up on upcoming matters. Absent that, the people in the BUs will just throw stuff at you whenever they want with no warning.
This will also give the GC a better picture of what you are facing when you describe how work is being thrown at you right now, and maybe they'll be able to suggest ways to alleviate the workload.
I have a few distinct work streams that all behave differently. One is very high volume and complex regulatory work but it’s formalized and goes through a clear process with distinct timelines - but even that is receiving pushback by BUs that don’t want to be constrained by it and the CEO is sympathetic to them.
Other work streams, like contract review, have a process but again people don’t want to follow it. The contract team of paralegals handles like 90% of the work without it being escalated to me or the GC. But yesterday at 4pm I received a 30 page highly complex agreement that was fully marked up by opposing counsel and the business team was like “we are expecting the review be done for tomorrow.” I obviously told them that was not possible and they responded saying they “just wanted US eyes on it as a cursory review” and that global already looked it it. Mind you, this directly impacts a major U.S. supply chain - I can’t just glance at it.
There are other ad hoc reviews as well like “we want to terminate x vendor that we don’t like, help.” So now I’m reviewing their contract and writing a letter to terminate. Or “x spokesperson is moving across the world - can they still provide the services for us?” Or “we are engaging in x research for a new product line and have a wildly constrained timeline, we need you to review all of the materials plus prepare a privacy policy for the website and we need it in 2 business days.”
Sorry for the vent but it’s a bit ridiculous right now.
I am part of a small legal team and have many of the same issues. I’ve raised the concerns over expectations to the GC and nothing happened other than being told to be more efficient and prioritize. I was like, yep already do that. If you find a solution, I would love to hear it bc this “cushy” in-house job isn’t so cushy. I try to log off by 5 as much as I can. Which is still past my hours but I would rather do that then get back on later.
I get the same and I also try to log off at 5 and also push for more comp whenever I can