Imagine a world without any written rules – it would undoubtedly be anarchy. So it is rather ironic that those responsible for helping people stick to the rules have none themselves.

There are hundreds of thousands of lawyers across the globe all doing the same job – being an in-house lawyer. But a set of guidelines to help this vast body of lawyers in their job has never been written, despite their private practice counterparts having drawn up a cross-border code some years ago.