How to impress the C-Suite: General Counsel interview tips

A good interview is often overlooked by experienced lawyers, with the view that they are somewhat straightforward. For example; my client has seen my candidates CV thus my candidate knows that they’ve got the skills required. This seems simple, but it isn’t always the case, particularly as more and more businesses are choosing to bring their legal function in-house.

They need to get it right the first time, interviews can be lengthy and tough for the candidate and expensive for businesses. With this in mind, I’ve penned my top tips for candidates interviewing for GC positions. Though these tips apply to anyone, they’re most relevant to General Counsel and Head of Legal when interviewing with C-Suite and non-legal stakeholders. 

Research goes a long way

This goes without saying. You need to know everything you can about the business you’re interviewing for, your recruitment consultant will put some literature together for you, although it’s important to do your own research. For example; what’s the strategy of the business and do they have an existing legal function? Who’s interviewing you and what’s their background? Recent trading history and are they currently raising capital or going through M&A? All of the above will help you brush up on any particular technical areas that may arise. As ever, the more you research, the better prepared you’ll be. 

Showcasing your technical skills

You’ve made it this far in your in-house career and it’s clear that your technical capability is going to be on-point. Nonetheless, you can fully expect to be thrown a curveball in an interview. Most of the time (when being asked a technical legal question by a non-legal stakeholder) their line of questioning will be influenced by recent activity or communication that they’ve had from their overpriced external counsel. 

So, how do you prepare for this? It’s a simple one,  a large part of preparing for an interview is to research your potential new employer’s recent trading history. This will give you some big clues as to what legal advice they’ve taken. Perhaps they’ve been involved in some tricky M&A work, maybe the not-so-recent changes in GDPR had a delayed impact or they’ve expanded their business to operate overseas. All of the above can be easily researched and a consultant will put together information for you to reference, making your research much easier.

One key skill you should be learning TODAY

In my opinion, the following skill is one of the most important attributes of in-house counsel, a skill that you’ll learn early in your in-house career and one that will never leave you. This is your ability to respond to a scenario with three options, varying in risk, and advise on which option will yield the best outcome. 

Your interviewer may choose to present you with a scenario, wanting your advice. This is a great opportunity for you to exhibit your excellent and eloquent verbal communication capabilities (incredibly important to C-Suite).

What to provide:

• Provide the interviewer with three succinct responses to their scenario
• Theorise each response advising on the levels of risk associated with each. 
• Then advise on your preferred route

This applies to EVERY ad hoc advice you’re asked to provide throughout your career.