When it is announced, with suitable fanfare, that another high-profile lawyer in private practice has been appointed general counsel of a major corporation, it often appears he has found the logical way to round off a successful career. On the one hand, the company makes a prestige appointment of an experienced lawyer; while on the other, the new general counsel can focus on advising a single client, relieved of the remorseless grind of generating sufficient billable hours.
Joining a corporation may therefore seem an ideal career move. However, the reality is that the transition from private practice to running a large legal department is not always a success. It involves new skills and new ways of working that are unfamiliar to lawyers brought up in private practice.
