Introduction:
An In house Counsel is a Lawyer employed in a corporate to handle specialized tasks such as Tax work, mergers and acquisitions, Labour Laws and Intellectual property, something building in-house practice group that rival the practice of the major Law Firm[1].
Others have defined an in-house counsel as a lawyer or team of lawyers that works within a corporation, instead of within a law firm[2].
These lawyers (the in house counsels) handle the legal needs of the company/ corporate or government departments for whom they work, addressing issues such as ensuring that employer discrimination laws are complied with and fair labor rules are obeyed. Depending on the nature of the industry, in-house counsel may have several other duties as well.
Sometimes a company may face a legal problem. In such a situation, the company generally has two choices. It can hire an outside counsel, which means it goes outside the company to a law firm or individual lawyer and asks that lawyer to represent its interests.
Alternatively, the Company can hire a lawyer or attorney to be a part of the corporate staff and have that lawyer handle the given legal issue.
Some companies/corporate/ government offices faces legal issues regularly. For example, a Government department may need to have several contracts of a different nature drawn up on several occasions. Such a Government department may not wish to have to hire an outside attorney or law firm every time it wants to have a contract drawn up. As such, the government department may hire in-house counsel. The in-house counsel in such a situation would be a contract attorney who draws up contracts.
ROLES OF AN IN HOUSE COUNSEL:
An In house Counsel has the following Roles[3] which includes:
a. An in house Counsel acts as the first line of defense for his Company/Corporate or the Government Departments legal liability, and carries out ordinary legal transaction. This may include, for example Corporate House-keeping employment/ labour relations, real estate, contracts, technology licensing, trademarks, tax and regulatory filings, collections and basic litigation.
b. An in house counsel creates policies for the corporate or the government department, for example, risk-management policies, and educate other employees to avoid legal troubles or how to recognize a problem quickly.
c. An in house counsel would often be wise to Contract outside help when involved in something new or with any large amount of risk.
d. An in house counsel Advices the Government department on various legal matters facing the department.
e. Participate in the drafting and review of different governmental bills
f. He also present his department in the Negotiation meetings.
In conclusion, it is suffice to say that, the In house counsels plays significant roles in Corporates/Company, or a government department even more than the Outside practitioners and reduces the unnecessary costs which could have been incurred by the company or government department to hire an outside Counsel.
[1] Heineman, Ben W. General Counsel as Lawyer-statesman. Harvard Law School Program on the Legal Professional (retrieved from General counsel - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
[2]www.wikipedia.org/wiki/in-house-counsel.htm
[3] http:wiki.answers.com/Q/what-does-an-in-house-lawyer-do-generally?
An In house Counsel is a Lawyer employed in a corporate to handle specialized tasks such as Tax work, mergers and acquisitions, Labour Laws and Intellectual property, something building in-house practice group that rival the practice of the major Law Firm[1].
Others have defined an in-house counsel as a lawyer or team of lawyers that works within a corporation, instead of within a law firm[2].
These lawyers (the in house counsels) handle the legal needs of the company/ corporate or government departments for whom they work, addressing issues such as ensuring that employer discrimination laws are complied with and fair labor rules are obeyed. Depending on the nature of the industry, in-house counsel may have several other duties as well.
Sometimes a company may face a legal problem. In such a situation, the company generally has two choices. It can hire an outside counsel, which means it goes outside the company to a law firm or individual lawyer and asks that lawyer to represent its interests.
Alternatively, the Company can hire a lawyer or attorney to be a part of the corporate staff and have that lawyer handle the given legal issue.
Some companies/corporate/ government offices faces legal issues regularly. For example, a Government department may need to have several contracts of a different nature drawn up on several occasions. Such a Government department may not wish to have to hire an outside attorney or law firm every time it wants to have a contract drawn up. As such, the government department may hire in-house counsel. The in-house counsel in such a situation would be a contract attorney who draws up contracts.
ROLES OF AN IN HOUSE COUNSEL:
An In house Counsel has the following Roles[3] which includes:
a. An in house Counsel acts as the first line of defense for his Company/Corporate or the Government Departments legal liability, and carries out ordinary legal transaction. This may include, for example Corporate House-keeping employment/ labour relations, real estate, contracts, technology licensing, trademarks, tax and regulatory filings, collections and basic litigation.
b. An in house counsel creates policies for the corporate or the government department, for example, risk-management policies, and educate other employees to avoid legal troubles or how to recognize a problem quickly.
c. An in house counsel would often be wise to Contract outside help when involved in something new or with any large amount of risk.
d. An in house counsel Advices the Government department on various legal matters facing the department.
e. Participate in the drafting and review of different governmental bills
f. He also present his department in the Negotiation meetings.
In conclusion, it is suffice to say that, the In house counsels plays significant roles in Corporates/Company, or a government department even more than the Outside practitioners and reduces the unnecessary costs which could have been incurred by the company or government department to hire an outside Counsel.
[1] Heineman, Ben W. General Counsel as Lawyer-statesman. Harvard Law School Program on the Legal Professional (retrieved from General counsel - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
[2]www.wikipedia.org/wiki/in-house-counsel.htm
[3] http:wiki.answers.com/Q/what-does-an-in-house-lawyer-do-generally?