How is productivity measured for in-house attorneys? Is there any analog of billable hours for in-house lawyers?

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No. Productivity measured by your work product, your relationships, and if there is a legal request tracking system of some sort that the business uses (more common in commercial transaction positions). In house life is totally different than law firm life - much more about the politics at play and building your brand and being a team player and helping the business meet their goals.

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The metric is about what your business partner counterparts tell their boss about you, and what that boss says to your GC. “We have these general gripes about legal” (which the GC pushes back on) “and this particular person sucks and never responds.”

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In-house they treat you like a grown-up. No clocking in and out like you’re making burritos at Taco Bell.

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By how many visible forest fires you put out even if they are within a contained area. You get 0 credit for spotting a maniac with a lighter, aerosol can and more gas than OPEC and Russia combined and preventing them from setting the world alight. In fact, you may actually be referred to as a dealkiller.

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Yes! I have settled on pointing out that maniac and saying we have two options - run now....or start hoarding water to CYA when the fire eventually breaks out. At least then when I put out the fire I also get credit and can say I told you so

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Build political capital within the organization. Less about billable and more about being known as someone reliable who will help the business units make smart, quick decisions.

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By a boss that doesn’t know 99.9% of what you do say-to-day and judges your performance based on the 0.1% they’re aware of…

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It's all about perception. Learn how to be viewed as a good attorney. Don't kill deals. Be responsive. If you get too busy you can hide risk

Just keep the machine moving

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Generally agree with MA1. get your work done as quickly as you can while properly prioritizing. If things are sitting, make sure you’re stakeholders and boss know why.

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Working in-house, you’ll see countless areas you could get involved. It’s important to prioritize and ensure that you’re hitting the most important areas and that you’re not spinning your wheels on busy work that won’t add value and (more importantly) make you look good enough to get a raise and promotion

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Basically “productivity” comes down to are you getting done what you are asked to do. Typically there is more work to do than people and time to do it. So it ends up being more that are you getting the important stuff done and are you getting done whatever else the important people think is important

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It’s not.

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