Post on 29-Jan-2018
transcript
Lawyers are from Venus, businessmen are from Mars…
By Caroline Lé-Girard, LRM Consulting &
Institute
Toute reproduction et diffusion interdites
A relationship made of decades of misunderstandings…
… leading to a frustrating and unefficient relationship.
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Where lawyers have been viewed by businessmen as :
Not responsive
Not « business oriented »
Too theorical
Deal breakers
Litigation managers
Contract writers
No risk takers
Cost centers
Toute reproduction et diffusion interdites
Whereas businessmen have been viewed by lawyers as :
Making deals withoutsecuring contract
Focusing on pricingissues
Ignoring anticipation
« At any price » deal makers
Unaware of legal risks
Taking too many risks for the sake of making a deal
Toute reproduction et diffusion interdites
In summary …
Business people believe lawyers prevent them from doing business
And
Lawyers believe business people are doing business at « any risk
conditions »
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This may be due to their differences …
• In their respective background
engineering or business schools vs university schools of law
• In their psychological features
extravert vs introvert
• In their skills
creative vs organizing
doers vs thinkers Toute reproduction et diffusion interdites
This may be due to structural factors…
• The corporate culture
Latin vs as anglo-saxon
• The size of the company
Small companies vs large groups
• The sector of activity
Non regulatory vs regulatory sector
• The geographical scope
National vs international activity
Toute reproduction et diffusion interdites
This may be due to human factors…
• lack of legal awareness of the CEO
« not seen, not caught », « better to live in illegacy than to die in legacy », « wish younice litigations » …
• personality of the legal director
No vision, not shaper, not communicator, not manager
• positioning of the legal director in the organization chart
Not reporting to CEO
• legal team :
Too complacent
Not pedagogic
OverloadedToute reproduction et diffusion interdites
Still, businessmen need lawyers and lawyers need
businessmen…
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Businessmen need lawyers because…
• Law is pregnant in business (inflation of norms, bills, …)
• Law is more and more complex (soft law, international conventions,…)
• Law is everyone’s business (CEO, contract managers, each employeerepresenting the company,...)
experts in law are needed
Toute reproduction et diffusion interdites
Lawyers need businessmen because…
• Businessmen are their internal customers
• To participate in the company’s value creation
• To participate in the company’s overall strategy
Internal allies are needed
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The company ‘s sustainability is a stake …
• The company may win a contract and lose the subsequent law suit
• Ignoring law may have materiel adverse consequences :
Financial loss
Criminal sanctions
Damage to reputation
…
Mastering law avoids value destruction Toute reproduction et diffusion interdites
And YOU business people, do you know what you can
expect from your lawyers ?
Here are some clues to make the most of your lawyers …
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Anticipate your need for legal advice
• Meet lawyers before you need them
proactivity
• Update lawyers on the business
legal watch
• Give lawyers reasonable deadlines
reliability Toute reproduction et diffusion interdites
Depict context, objectives and expected return
Lawyers need to get the big picture
• To fairly reflect in contract
• To alert on legal concerns
• To make a global risk assessment
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What you should not expect from your lawyer
• To be just a writer
• To be just a recorder
• To improvise
• To make a decision in your place
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What you can expect from your lawyer
reliable
pedagogic
pragmatic
proactive
communicator
adviser
wistleblower
risk manager
project manager
negotiator
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Topics you should never forget to talk to your lawyer
• Operations with more or higher risks
• Suspiscion of bribery
• Strategic projects and /or contracts
• Law firms
• Material disputes
• Serious injuries or fatalities
• Connections with US jurisdictions
• …
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And YOU lawyers, do you know how to deal with business
people ?
Here are some clues to strenghten your credibility with
them …
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More than an expert, be a true partner
• a service provider
Negotiate deadlines
Answer timely
Be a project leader or contributor
Demonstrate cost efficiencies
• a custodian of legal standards
Ask intrusive questions
Challenge motivations and objectives
Avoid legal jargon
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More than an expert, be a true partner
• Organize training courses
Legal basics, compliance programs, …
• Communicate on your activity
Intranet, newsletters, flash, …
• Empower your customers
Standardized documents, procedures, guidelines, legal golden rules …
More than an expert, be a risk manager
• Highlight risks versus expected returns of the operation
• Make an assessment of the risks by hierarchy
• Prioritize treatment of risks
• Suggest solutions to manage the risks identified :
• Reduction
• Mitigation
• Elimination
• transfer Toute reproduction et diffusion interdites
Differences make complementarities…
Lawyers
• Anticipate
• Advise
• Avoid destruction of value
Businessmen
• Act
• Make decisions
• Create value
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You are both risk managers
Businessmen
• Prioritize :
• Customer risk
• Operational risk
• Credit crunch
• Market risk
• Communication risk
Lawyers
• Prioritize :
• Contractual liabilities
• Torts
• Fraud
• Criminal liabilities
• Bribery
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Risks are interconnected
• And overlapplegal
communication
supplier
financial…
Customer
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And LRM is the link
• Legal risk Management encompasses :
• Management of legal risks
Legal watch, trainings, procedures, …
• Legal management of risks
• Law suit monitoring, trainings, guidelines, …
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You are both actors in the value creation chain
Leading to the global performance of the company
purchasers lawyers businessmen
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Conclusion : it takes two to tango …
• Lawyers, be more communicative !
• Businessmen, anticipate more !
• You two, speak « risk management » language… combined with ethics
This cooperation will bring a competitive advantage to your company
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Thank you for your attention
Contact me at : caroline.le@legalriskmanagement.fr
or
06 30 33 33 37
Visit my web site : www.legalriskmanagement.fr