Part watchdog, part business hotshot, part super hero – the new in-house lawyer is multi-faceted and very different to a few years ago, a collection of international in-house counsel agreed.
Siegfried Schwung, general counsel, product, at DaimlerChrysler and co-chair of the roundtable session at Martindale-Hubbell’s Counsel to Counsel superforum, which was held in London, claimed greater regulation of lawyers has affected the role of in-house counsel, but that it was client demand that was the real driver. He said: “We were perceived as pea-counters, as more of an obstacle to business than help. The reason for the change of our role is to do with client desire – clients want solutions, not just advice. They want us to share responsibility. If we give advice we have to take a position and know the risk involved.”
