Anita Wilson is VP & Chief Employment Counsel at TreeHouse Foods Inc. in Westchester, Ill., where she handles all labor, employment, benefits, ethics and compliance issues.
When I was on the board of the Chicago chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC), I helped run a program where the chapter placed minority law students into summer internships at corporations in the Chicagoland area. Even though they had just finished only their first year of law school, many of the students were already interested in one day working in-house. Invariably, each summer I got the same question: “when is the right time to go in-house?” In order to answer that question, I created a very complex, algebraic equation that I developed after intense and careful study and analysis of, not only my career, but also the careers of hundreds if not thousands of other lawyers: what you want + what you need to get what you want = IT DEPENDS.
In my view, the best time to go in-house depends on the type of in-house opportunity that arises and whether it’s the right position at the right company for you at that particular point in your career. I first went in-house into a group of 11 employment attorneys at a huge, global corporation after clerking for a judge and then practicing at a law firm. On my first day, my boss, a very business-savvy, sharp (albeit sharp-tongued) woman told me point blank: “We think you’re smart and we’re glad you’re here but you know NOTHING.” I gulped and started wondering if my law firm would take me back if I begged long and hard enough. My new boss then proceeded to tell me how she would train me and how I would learn a lot, but how I would have to work closely with her and run everything by her – - which, of course, I wisely did.
The company didn’t have more issues than any other typical company. It’s just that the company was so big and had so many employees that every employment law issue that could ever be contemplated in the world (and possibly on Mars too), had to be addressed at that company and usually way before other companies had to face the issue. The fact that there were 11 other lawyers in my department allowed me to shadow other, more experienced lawyers and gave my boss time to work closely with me.
Had I gone to a smaller company at that point in my career, my experience would probably have been different. In a small legal department, each lawyer must have the experience and wisdom to operate more independently. While not impossible, going in-house to a smaller company early on in your career can be a rather daunting feat if you need space in which to develop and other lawyers to train you.
Now that’s not to say that going in-house to a small company, or frankly any company for that matter, early on in your career is necessarily a bad move. It depends. There are many lawyers who have gone in-house early on in their careers at companies and organizations of all shapes and sizes and have done just fine. In fact, I know of one lawyer who went to a corporation straight out of law school who is now the general counsel of that company. But these lawyers are exceptions. Most of us regular people simply rely on recruiters and referrals (if we’re lucky) and sometimes just plain ‘ole dumb luck.
There is no magical best time to go in-house. Rather, what’s more important is finding a position in an environment in which you can be successful – - whether you are continuing to develop core skills, or whether you already have the fundamental skills to operate more independently. If you find an opportunity to go in-house that allows to you be successful in that way, then it might be the right time for you.
Ten or 15 years from now, I will look to see whether any of the ACC summer interns have gone in-house. At that time I will test the statistical strength of my very “complex, algebraic equation” and most likely still come up with the same lawyerly response to the question of “When is the right time to go in-house?” It depends.
