Lawyers are from Venus, businessmen are from Mars...

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.


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


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


In summary …

Business people believe lawyers prevent them from doing business

And

Lawyers believe business people are doing business at « any risk

conditions »


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


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…


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


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


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 …


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


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


What you can expect from your lawyer

reliable

pedagogic

pragmatic

proactive

communicator

adviser

wistleblower

risk manager

project manager

negotiator


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

• …


And YOU lawyers, do you know how to deal with business

people ?

Here are some clues to strenghten your credibility with

them …


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


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


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


Risks are interconnected

• And overlapplegal

communication

supplier

financial…

Customer


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, …


You are both actors in the value creation chain

Leading to the global performance of the company

purchasers lawyers businessmen


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


Thank you for your attention

Contact me at : [email protected]

or

06 30 33 33 37

Visit my web site : www.legalriskmanagement.fr

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.legalriskmanagement.fr/

Lawyers are from Venus, businessmen are from Mars...

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