I got an offer where I will be the only lawyer for the division and my manager will be non-legal. I know this isn’t a typical set up. What are some important questions I should be asking?

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Why don’t you report to the GC? It makes no sense for a lawyer to report to a non-lawyer unless you’re a GC reporting to the CEO. How is your manager supposed to supervise your legal work? Are they going to tell you you’re making bad legal calls? Tell you you’ve misinterpreted the law?

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This! I am in house and the only reason I could imagine and attorney not reporting to GC is because that department wants to get a different answer than they are getting from the legal department.

I have this arrangement at my in-house position (need to update my title) and I love it to be honest. I definitely reach out to the other members of the traditional legal team and have the GC as a resource if needed but I essentially function as a mini GC for one group that has a lot of legal work and am “coded” as a member of a non legal group. I use my own judgement to determine when and in what contexts to reach out for help or guidance from the other attorneys. I would ask what resources are available for you (eg, will you also be part of an malpractice insurance or have access to resources for CLEs, docusign, paralegals etc). Also since I am not coded as part of legal, I have to ask for access to certain sensitive documents. I had 9 YOE before joining so definitely felt comfortable understanding my own limitations and have a good and collaborative relationship with my non lawyer superviser.

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Totally agree! And while I am not coded as legal for certain purposes, I am covered under our firm malpractice insurance, have access to PLI for CLEs, and have authority to sign off for “legal” for documents but it was definitely something I would make sure to look into and confirm at any other job like this.

Why isn't there a gc?

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There is, and a proper legal org with lots of attorneys. But not for the new division I’ll be supporting. So I was interviewed by the team but no lawyers. I feel there are lots of questions I should be asking that I normally wouldn’t think to if I were being slotted into a team of lawyers.

Who has final say on legal issues? If you do not, I’d seriously question the arrangement

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Understand your up the chain ethical reporting.

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