Sterling Miller, CEO and Senior Counsel at Hilgers Graben PLLC, is an experienced GC, legal thought leader and award- winning author. He’s spent his fair share of time both in-house and in law firms, and knows what it takes to get the job done in both.
He caught up with David Lancelot, CLO and EVP of Advocacy at LawVu, to discuss the biggest changes underway in the current legal landscape – one of which is the striking rise in value placed on experienced in-house counsel by private practice recruiters.
“Let’s be honest. Going in-house in the old days wasn’t a great choice,” laughs Sterling as he reflects on his own career experiences. “For a lot of people, it meant you couldn’t hack it in law firms, or that you fancied putting your feet up.” For Sterling, who has spent over three decades in multi- million dollar corporate legal departments (American Airlines, Travelocity) and leading US law firms, the notion that a private practice career is somehow more prestigious than an in-house one has always seemed misplaced.
For one thing, he’s living proof that you don’t have to commit to one or the other for life. Like most, he took the first steps of his career within the prescribed walls of a respectable US law firm. Back then, he reflects, “that was simply the only legitimate path”. Lacking many of the hallmarks associated with private practice (the dreaded six minutes, anyone?) going in-house was widely dismissed as the choice of the uninspired, unambitious, or downright lazy.
However, as a junior litigation attorney who regularly took his instructions from his clients’ own in-house counsel, Sterling quickly found himself fascinated by the way these ‘other’ lawyers worked. “Everything they did went against what we’d been taught in law school, which was to deliver the advice, get paid, and move on,” he says. “They didn’t take our advice blindly. They passed it up the chain of command within their businesses, and then came back to us with a plan.”
What piqued his curiosity most was the idea that what he had understood as purely ‘legal’ issues were actually far more nuanced when placed into an organizational context. “What happened when they ran our advice up the chain in the business?” he wondered. “How did that work?” For his clients, the business of receiving legal advice clearly wasn’t as simple as ‘take it or leave it’. He wanted to learn more, and it wasn’t long before he took an in-house role at American Airlines to find out for himself.
Since then, Sterling has switched sides more than once, taking on a variety of senior roles in both corporate legal departments and law firms. It’s safe to say he remains a staunch advocate for in-house, and his regular blog, Ten things you need to know as in-house counsel®, remains a highly trusted resource within the legal community. ”It’s still the best job in the world,” he says.
Now, though, he’s back in private practice at Hilgers Graben. It’s a little different this time round: as well as acting legal counsel, his extensive experience as a business leader has given him the opportunity to get in on the ground floor as CEO. And he’s not the only one – he looks to be part of a wider trend of law firms nabbing back experienced GCs into leadership roles after decades in-house.
There’s no doubt about it, Sterling confirms. “There have been a lot of senior in-house lawyers migrating to law firms over the past few years, and they’re in hot demand.” Why is this happening? For Sterling, there are two key drivers behind the trend. The first, simply, is that in-house is definitely no longer seen as the easy option. In fact, he says, the demands on corporate counsel are now such that “it’s arguably an even tougher gig than private practice”. With reports of burnout rising over recent years, the easy conclusion is that, however unlikely it may seem, in-house lawyers are seeking respite on the other side of the fence.
Sterling doesn’t think that’s quite it, though. Once in-house is in your blood, he says, it’s not that easy to walk away. “Not just because of the legal issues, which are always dynamic, but because of the relationships you build with the business, and the thrill of truly being part of the wider team.”
More interesting to him is the flip side of this paradigm shift. In welcoming in-house talent with open arms, law firms are, he believes, finally seeing the value of lawyers who have proven that they have the strategic and commercial chops to succeed in a challenging business environment.
“There have been a lot of senior in-house lawyers migrating to law firms over the past few years, and they’re in hot demand.”
As Sterling has seen first hand, this is a skill set that law firms sometimes struggle to find within their own ranks. He recalls the moment this realization dropped for him in private practice: “We had a couple of junior lawyers trying to solve a complex issue, but they still just couldn’t quite get there. That was when I realized… These guys are smart, but I don’t think they really know how to solve problems.”
In-house counsel, on the other hand, often have no choice but to navigate complex commercial problems involving multiple stakeholders at speed (something Sterling describes in his own experience as “being on the trapeze without a net”). And it appears that, at least at a senior level, they might be starting to outpace their counterparts in the private practice world.
So what are the core traits earning in-house lawyers their newfound credence across the profession?
Here’s Sterling’s take.
For Sterling, this is number one. In-house, there is little, if any, separation between your legal team and the wider business – and their concerns are your concerns. “The most impactful corporate counsel are those who go beyond problem solving and really get curious about what’s going on under the hood,” he says.
“For a successful GC, it’s not enough to know, for example, that their companies make cars or widgets. They know who their internal decision makers are. They know who their customers are. They know who their competitors are. They know what’s going on in the wider marketplace.”
What does obtaining this knowledge look like in practice? Sterling says a good first move is simply to ask for a demo of whatever it is your business is offering. “Ask to see exactly what the customer sees: the product. How does it work? How does your business actually make money from it? Understanding these things from multiple points of view will make you a far more effective lawyer across the board.”
For lawyers who are most comfortable in the realm of the written word, this one might elicit a groan. But, Sterling says, the reality is that this is a non-negotiable if you want to be taken seriously as a business partner – both in-house and in leadership positions in private practice.
“As much as I did not want to do this, I had to learn some math,” he says. “Educate yourself on basic finance: how to draw up a balance sheet, how a cashflow statement works. You don’t need to go out and get an MBA, but the true language of any business is numbers. If you don’t at least have a basic working knowledge of that, you’re not going to make it.”
The final trait that sets the most successful in-house counsel apart, Sterling says, is that they’re consistently and proactively talking to the business. “It’s so easy to hide behind a computer screen,” he says. “But the best in-house counsel are out there having face to face conversations.”
Sterling recommends routinely touching base with colleagues. “Ask them what they need, how you can better enable them, and what’s coming up on their radar that you need to be aware of. These are the conversations that will really bring you into the heart of the business.”
And, as he points out, becoming a meaningful communicator is likely to pay dividends well beyond the walls of any specific organization.
“When you communicate, people think more favourably of you. And when people think more favourably of you, it’s far easier to get things done.”
